I say it's good to see you, but
I forgot to put my contact in. So, I know you're there, but
vaguely, I guess. So, I do ask for your prayers for
me as I desire to preach this. I've had this message for a while
now, and I don't necessarily always feel comfortable about
a message I've had for a while. I like them to be a little bit
sooner, but then when they're too soon, I get too Afraid that
they're not good enough, they're not ready. So, ask God's blessing
on this message to you this morning. Remember those that are sick.
I heard from Rick, is he? Okay. Pray for Rick. Remember others
in your prayers that are sick, troubled. I hope the message
will speak to those believers who are troubled. I know it does
to me and I pray it will to you. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. The text will be found in verse 10. The apostle says, but the God
of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus. After that you have suffered
a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. Entitled this message, The God
of All Grace to Suffering Saints. The God of All Grace to Suffering
Saints. The Apostle Peter, writer of
this epistle, was a man who understood suffering. He understood affliction. You remember that Peter, among
the apostles, was the boldest of them. When it came time for our Lord's
death, the Apostle Peter stood when it seemed like everyone
else was afraid. You remember what he said before
that? He said, though all men forsake you, I will never deny
you. Now, the Lord told him he would.
Consider the boldness in that. The Lord told him what was going
to happen and he said no. And we know it did. He denied
the Lord three distinctly different times. Judas betrayed the Lord
one time. Peter betrayed him three times.
And you know the only difference that separated him and Judas
was the words of our Lord who said, but I have prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not. And he said, when thou art converted,
and I'm going to restore you again. He told him he's going
to deny him, then he told him he'll restore him again. He said,
when you're restored, when you're converted, what is he to do? Comfort my people. Feed my sheep. You know what
happened. When he denied him, he wept bitterly
because of his sin. Imagine the bitterness of feeling
as though you were totally abandoned of God. That's how Peter felt.
He suffered. But you know this, that the Lord
in grace returned to Peter. I always think of that when he
said, tell my disciples and Peter. Peter no longer considered himself
one. He said, you tell my disciples
and Peter. Remember when he left everything,
went fishing again. Abandoned the faith. The Lord
came to him on that beach and told him to cast the net on the
right side and they did and he said, it's the Lord. And he abandoned
everything and fled to Christ. And the Lord hurt his soul when
he asked him those three times, lovest thou me more than these?
He was grieved. Peter knew suffering. And as
he writes this epistle, he understands the horrible nature of sin, because
he himself experienced it. And so in this epistle, he appeals
to the grace of God at the very beginning. He said, remember,
you were chosen You're the elect of God, you're the redeemed of
Christ, you're the called of the Spirit, you're the ones kept,
and he said, but you're going to suffer. He said, if need be, through
manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith be much more
precious than gold, that perish might be tried, though tried
with fire, like mine was. What did he say? Like mine was,
yours will be too. And in this process, He despises
sin so much that so many places in this epistle, He exhorts us
to be averse to sin, to flee from it. He tells us to lay aside
every sin. Isn't that just becoming of the
gospel? Isn't it the gospel of grace? Isn't that just, as Paul
said, that's just your reasonable service? Isn't it reasonable
to lay aside the things of the flesh and the things of the world?
That's what Peter exhorts us to here. So Peter was a man that understood
affliction and he understood failure. And having felt the pains and
sorrows, sins with all his heart, desires us to cast it off. Cast
it off. Because what it promises, it
can't deliver. What it promises is it only leads
to the opposite of what you feel it's going to bring you. It's
going to bring you pain. He's speaking to believers now.
It's going to bring you sorrow and grief. But He closes this
epistle with this prayer. But... Now look, put off all
sin. Seek after holiness. Seek to
live holy. That's not going to happen, we
know that, but that's what our desire is, isn't it? It is to
live in holiness and righteousness. He said when the devil comes,
he's going to seek who he may devour. He said resist him steadfastly
in the faith. But notice he does not leave
it to us. He doesn't leave it to the power
of the creature to do these things. He says, but, here's the source
by which you may be able to do these things. But, the God of
all grace. Here's the source, the God of
all grace. And this is really a prayer.
He's praying, but the God of all grace, who called you to
His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, Listen, after you've suffered
a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, and settle you. Now, I've got four points out
of this text, and they're all right here. They're all right
here. First of all, the God of all grace. What is that to the
suffering saint? The God of all grace. Secondly,
the calling of the God of all grace. He hath called us to something. called us. And He called us by
Christ Jesus, the means of this salvation and calling. And thirdly,
the suffering of those who are called. I like the scriptures
that it's honest with you. It doesn't leave this to your
imagination what's going to happen once you believe. You're going
to suffer a while. But there's a purpose, and this
is the fourth, the purpose of suffering. It's listed right
there for you, that you may be perfect, established, strengthened,
and settled. Now that's the purpose of it.
First of all, the God of all grace. The Apostle having set
forth the truth of the doctrine of grace, that we should never
abuse it, He tells us we're the elect of
God. He tells us we're the redeemed of Christ. He tells us we're
called of the Spirit. He tells us we're kept by the
power of God. And yet, we are never to use
grace as a means to the flesh. Chapter 2 and verse 16, he says,
as free and not using liberty as a cloak of maliciousness. Yet the apostle again leaves
nothing to the creature to maintain this. You can't keep your standing
before God. You can't do it. No matter how
you strive, no matter how you seem to work, you can't keep
your standing before God. But the source of our standing
is this, the God of all grace. In other words, The God of all
grace is the only source by which we are saved and kept, by which we are able to do these
exhortations that he's given us. It is only by the God of
all grace. Therefore, the only cause of
our salvation, the only reason of our regeneration, The only
reason we have fled to Christ for refuge is the God of all
grace. Peter knew that. Again, what
made the difference between him and Judas? What? There was no difference in their
actions. The difference was the God of
all grace. Has God removed the veil from
your eyes to see who you really are? Do you know who you really
are? Have you seen this inside? Do you know what kind of person
you really are? Vile, wicked, full of sin. And then in an act of grace,
did God reveal Christ to you? God sent somebody to tell you
about Christ, and while no one else saw Him, you did. And somehow, by a miracle of
grace, you ran to Him. You fled to Him for refuge, to
lay hold on the hope that is set before you, which is Christ.
Remember the Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, it says, As God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, remember that first day, God
said, let there be light. He just said it and it was. He
said, just like that, as God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, He shined in your heart to give you the light
of the knowledge. I thought about this quite often,
the light of the knowledge, light of the knowledge. Knowledge was
always there. God's salvation was, the knowledge
of God's salvation was always there. But you didn't know it.
Until when? Until He commanded the light
to shine. Revelation. And where did it
shine? On you. The knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's where we found
salvation. We found it only in Christ Jesus. And friends, that's
the God of all grace. The God of all grace did that
for you. He is the God of electing grace. We know this. This is
a glorious, this is where my salvation began. My salvation
began with His electing grace. He chose us. Out of what? Grace. There was nothing in us. And God, the God of all grace,
chose us. And the God of all grace redeemed
us. I didn't have it. We weren't
even here. Didn't even exist at that time.
And the God of all grace came into this world and he saved
us. In our text, that word, by Jesus
Christ. This is how it all happened.
The God of all grace, by Jesus Christ. He redeemed us. And then by the God of all grace,
he called us, enlightened our minds. Over in Ephesians 2, Ephesians
1, this is all in Ephesians 1. If I can stop passing over it. In all of Ephesians 1, verse
6 verses is electing grace, verse 7 through verse 12 is redeeming
grace, and then in 13 we see the experience of grace, but
look at verse 17, it says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His
calling, what is the riches of the glory of the inheritance
of the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power
to us, usward, who believe according to the working of His mighty
power." You that are saved by the God of all grace, you know
it took power that you, you had no power. It took power. It took the power of God to open
our eyes. This is the God of all grace. Yet every believer is in constant,
we constantly feel the aggravation of our sins.
Don't you? Do you not still feel that? The aggravation of your sins?
How often do we cry, my sin, my sin, how it brings me such
grief. How often have we denied Christ
by our works and unbelief. How often have we left Him like
Peter and been ensnared by the things of the earth. And because
of this, this constant warfare that rages even in the children
of God, We need, listen, we need the God of all grace. Now the
God of all grace chose me, the God of all grace redeemed me,
the God of all grace called me, the God of all grace keeps me.
But I'll tell you this, I am in constant need of the God of
all grace. It's not just check, check, check. I need Him constantly. We are in constant need, perpetual
need of what? Grace. Grace. We need the God of all grace
to pardon us. We need the God of all grace
to forgive us. We need the God of all grace
to blot out our transgression. We need the God of all grace
to restore us to faith and repentance. When? Constantly. Constantly. Prone to wonder, Lord I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, take and seal
it for thy courts above. Behold, it is the God of all
grace who constantly, daily, hourly, minute by minute forgives
and cleanses us and keeps us by His own loving kindness. Now, surely if God did not possess
all grace, we would perish. If God did not possess all grace,
we would perish. See the truth then, because He
is the God of all grace, His grace is a never-ending supply. His grace is a never-ending supply. Why? He's the God of all grace.
Now, suppose a man were to put up an inheritance for his son.
He sets aside, he's a wealthy man, and he sets aside, say he
sets aside all that he has for his son. He gives it to an honest
man and at the death of his father, that son receives all that his
father set aside for him. But that number would still be
limited, wouldn't it? Still would be limited. If God had done that, if He had
set aside only a certain amount of grace for us, we'd have spent
it all. I'd have spent it all already. But the grace of God that is
set aside for His children is the God of all grace. All the grace that God possesses is given to His children. So
these words ring to our ears when we're in trouble, when we're
in affliction, when we're in doubt, when we're in fear. when
we're in health or when we're in sickness, whatever situation,
listen, He is still the God of all grace to us. How much grace have you used
so far? I want you to know that you've
not even begun to exhaust the God of all grace. Why? Because His grace is equal to
His person. Now if he said he was the man
of all grace, that wouldn't be very much, would it? No, he's
the God of all grace. So God's grace is like his character. It doesn't change. He said, behold,
I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, what? You sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Because my grace, like my character, does not change. My love, like
my character, does not change. The offering of my Son for your
sins does not change. You do. It doesn't. Your circumstances change. The
God of all grace does not change. Do you need the God of all grace? See, His grace is not a... The
scripture doesn't liken His grace or His love or His attributes
to a pond, or a lake, or even an ocean. Why? It's still limited. It likens it to a fountain. You
know why? Because a fountain is something. If it is a fountain,
it continually flows. It just never stops. That's what
His grace is. It is a never ceasing supply
of grace. Never ceasing. Never stops. You see, His grace is as a fountain. Psalm 36 verse 9, For with thee
is the fountain of life. Zechariah 13 and verse 1, In
that day There shall be a fountain open for the house of David,
for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Listen, for sin and uncleanness. Don't you need a fountain for
sin? Something that's constantly cleansing you. You want to worship
this morning, I know you do. How much sin is mixed with? How much? What do you need? You
need a constant supply of forgiveness. That's what the God of all grace
does. He constantly cleanses us. I like the way John puts
it. He cleanseth us from all sin. He has cleansed me. He is right
now cleansing me and He shall forever cleanse me. Why? He's
the God of all grace. Did you deserve the cleansing?
No. You need grace to be cleansed. Therefore, his saints who he
has chosen, redeemed, and quickened, we give thanks for the God of
all grace. We sing that hymn, Fountain of
Never Ceasing Grace. Thy saints exhaustless theme. Object of immortal praise, essentially
supreme. The God of all grace. So if you're
suffering, listen, this is our God. Our God is the God of all
grace. Grace to forgive, grace to pardon,
grace to cleanse, grace to keep, grace to supply all our needs.
That's what Peter said, cast all your care on Him. Why? He
careth for you. He careth for you. God of all grace. I'm thankful
it says, not the God of grace, but the God of all grace. Secondly,
is the effectual call of God of all grace. Look at your text.
But the God of all grace who hath what? What did he do? He
called us. He called us. This is the first
stream of the fountain of never ceasing grace. The effectual
calling. The God of all grace who had
called us and he called us to something. What? to His eternal
glory. You got that? His eternal glory.
What is He doing this for? What's all this calling and heaven
about? Why save a sinner? For His glory. He's doing it for His glory. And this calling is always the
first work of God upon the heart of His people. Now, it's not His first work. His
first work was our electing grace, wasn't it? Then it was our redeeming
grace. And then what? Our calling grace.
That was third in line. But to us it was first. We'd
never known the electing grace or the redeeming grace had He
not called us by grace. The word calling implies that
He spoke to you. He spoke to you. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live. As the Lord stood at the grave
of Lazarus, you remember that calling, right? There he is dead. No hope of ever getting up. Can't
help himself. No, none of his family could
help him. They loved him. They missed him.
They wanted him to be alive. Nobody could help him. But the
Lord came and then what? In great power, He called him
by name. You know how He called you? He
called you by name. It's command, wasn't it? Now
listen, the preacher may extend you and invite you. Come to Christ. There's no shame in that. Come
to Christ. That's what we do. I can only
invite. I have power. But when Christ
comes, He doesn't invite. He commands. When He commands,
you'll do just like Lazarus. You'll come to Him. Come to Me,
all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Even so, the God of all grace
chose us and saved us even before He called us. And then when He
called us, what'd we do? We came. Could you do anything
else? You that believe, let me ask you, can you do anything
else but believe on Him? What is, to me, the greatest angst
of sin is my unbelief. The greatest sorrow in my heart
is that I don't believe enough. I don't have any remorse for
believing. Do you? Do you ever want to go
back to unbelief? Not the believer. He calls us
to faith. This is the power of God. We
were dead and he called us. And at once we saw our desperate
need of righteousness and found in Jesus Christ all we needed.
Is there anything else you need but Christ? To us who believe Christ is all,
therefore, we repent it. We turned from our sins. He called
us and we turned. What we turn from? Yes, we turn
from sin. There's no doubt about that.
We no longer desire the thing that was causing us to perish. But I tell you this, I also turn
from my righteousness. This is what our Lord said about
self-righteous people. He said it's impossible for them. He said it's easier for a camel
to go through an eye of a needle. You take a big camel and you
try to put him through that eye. That's how impossible it is.
For a rich man. Not just physical riches. Listen,
self-righteousness is the riches of man. But I tell you what, we, like
Paul, count our self-righteousness as done, that we may win Christ.
That's what it is to be called. And I know this, those who are
called, we abandon our vain religion, our self-righteousness, and cling
only to Christ. But one thing about somebody
who's called, listen, he's called, look at that, unto His eternal
glory. Does that sound like somebody
who could fail? Does that sound like, if God
called you to His eternal glory, but you didn't make it, it wouldn't be eternal glory
then, would it? He called us to eternal glory. In other words,
the work that He began in us, He will perform. Everyone he
called, he has called to his eternal glory. And if it failed,
then his glory would cease. Why? Because he tied his name
to it. He put his name. He shall not
fail. nor be discouraged. Our Lord
said that of all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. This is
the will of him that sent me, that of all he had given me I
should lose how many? How many will he lose? Everyone
he called, how many will he lose? None. He will lose none of them. Why? He called them to his eternal
glory. Everyone who is called, we look
freely, constantly to Christ. Look at that. He says, by Christ
Jesus. That's how. That's how all this
is possible. This is how the God of all grace
could be gracious. By Jesus Christ. When He called us and opened
our eyes to see Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we saw His
perfect, accomplished, atonement as our high priest. That's what
I see. When I look at Christ, is that what you see? You do
not see perfection. I see perfection when I see Him.
He's perfect. There's nothing lacking in Him.
When the apostle said, but this man, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
12, but this man, isn't that who you're trusting in? All my hope is in this man. Not this man. That man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Why? This
man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sin, what'd he do? He sat
down. Forever. That's what he did. Us who are
called, we are called to eternal glory and our hope is that it's
by Christ Jesus. That this man, by the grace of
God, has accomplished all we need. All our righteousness,
all our atonement for sin. And he sat down at the right
hand of God henceforth expecting Till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by his one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Has God called you? Man, there's no way you're going
to know your election or your redemption except He call you.
And when He call you, you're going to know that it's all by
Christ Jesus. You'll look only to Him. Only to Him. Believer, this life is short. This life is short. When time
shall be no more, God has called us and saved us and quickened
us that we may be partakers of His eternal glory. That we might
forever glorify the God of all grace. That's what heaven is
going to be. Uninterrupted praise. Uninterrupted adoration to God. Thirdly, the suffering of saints. Look at that, your text. But
the God of all grace, what did he do? He called us unto his
eternal glory. How? By Jesus Christ. Listen,
after you have suffered a while, after you have suffered a while, just as the streams of grace
flow to us in mercy, as we have been called by faith in Christ
in repentance from dead works, listen, the suffering is also
a gift of God's grace. I do not ever pretend that you
will think, wow, I'm suffering. Woo, this is wonderful. Thank
you for the pain. Regardless how you feel or I
feel about it, it is still a gift of God's grace, even though we
can't understand why or how. The scriptures are just plain,
after you've suffered a while. In other words, He's telling
you the truth. Though you've been called, though
the God of all grace has called you to His glory by Christ Jesus,
listen, you are of necessity going to suffer, I like this,
a while. Just enough. Not more, and not
less, but just enough. God of all grace not only ordained
our salvation, but also ordained our suffering. I don't know what you need to
suffer. I don't. I don't have a clue. And you
don't know what I need to suffer. Believe me, I'm opposed to all
the suffering that has come to me. I'm longing for that little while
to be even shorter. I know it's needful. Lord, can
you make it a little shorter? Go to Philippians 1. I want you to keep this. And
I want you to see that suffering is just as much a gift as salvation. Suffering is just as much a gift
of God as salvation. Look at Philippians 1, verse
29. We like this first part. For unto you it is given on the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him. Now that's a
gift, isn't it? I've just been explaining that,
the God of all grace. It's a gift. Our calling is a gift, our redemption's
a gift, our election's a gift. We like that. But notice this,
not only, it's not only, but also, to what? Suffer. Listen, why? For His sake. I told you He's doing everything
for His sake. You know that? Your suffering is for His sake.
It's a gift. No believer will reach his home
in glory except he first suffer. The apostle said in Acts 14 that
we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. So God then calls us and ordains
our suffering. I had recently thought of this. Because of suffering, the only
comfort for me in suffering is the absolute supremacy of God
over all things. That gives me some comfort to
know that my suffering is not accidental, it's not outside
of the per view of God's will? It is God's will. It is His will that you suffer. And I know this, we don't all
suffer the same. They vary, don't they? Have you
seen that? It varies. And I'll tell you this, sometimes
we look on another brother who seems to be taking his suffering
pretty good and we want his. I imagine though, if that were
so, it would probably crush us. But God specifically has given
you the suffering that you have. It is designed for you. Whatever it is, it's matter,
it's manner, it's duration, it all is in the hands of our God.
The God of all grace. Scripture testifies of our Lord's
suffering as an example. Our Lord's suffering was not
just an example, it was for our salvation, but it was also an
example. Listen to this, I think this
is astounding. Scripture says, I think it's
in Hebrews, He learned obedience. How? by the things He suffered. Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ
learned obedience by the things He suffered, should we expect
anything different? And we're talking about the obedience
of faith and the obedience of love. We have a law, don't we?
Your law is faith and your law is love. How are you going to
learn that? Our Lord learned by suffering. How are you going to learn? Lord, I want to learn a different
way. I want a different method. No. There is no different method. If our masters suffered, how
much then should we learn obedience, faith, and love by the things
we suffer? And regardless of the manner
of suffering, or the matter of suffering, or the measure of
suffering, all saints must suffer for Christ's
sake. Isn't this different than modern
religion? Is this not different? God wants you to be happy, and
healthy, and wealthy, and everything, and if you're not happy, healthy,
and wealthy, then it's your fault. God wanted it, but you messed
it up. No. Even your suffering is designed. And nothing else would work.
Nothing else would work. There's that hymn, The Way of
the Cross Leads Home. The way of suffering leads home.
The way of affliction leads home. The way of distress leads home.
The way of griefs and pains in this life leads home. You know, in Pilgrim's Progress,
there's only one person, character, that didn't suffer? You know
who it was? Ignorance. He's the one that
went through life, oh, everything's fine, nothing's wrong. Oh, you
mean you didn't go, you didn't feel the grief? No, not really. You didn't go to the cross? No,
not really. I didn't know, I didn't have
that. You didn't go through Vanity
Fair and you didn't go through Doubting Castle. You didn't have
any. No, everything's been fine so
far. Life's great. He's the only one that didn't
suffer. He was lost. But now then, look at this. What
is the purpose of it? What's the purpose? I'll get
to the reason. The God of all grace He's God
of all grace. Oh, He's got so much grace that
you can't exhaust it. It's like taking a thimble of
water out of the ocean. You're not going to exhaust it. God of all grace called us to
eternal glory by Jesus Christ. He's also called us to suffer.
Now why? Why would the God of all grace
call us to eternal glory and to suffer. Well, He gives you
the reason. Look at your text again. After
you've suffered a while, listen, make you. Now God's going to
do something with this suffering. He's going to do something. It's
not just empty suffering. It's not suffering for suffering's
sake. Here it is. Make you perfect. strengthen, settle you. Now, this word perfect means
mature. Mature. Suffering has something
to do with our spiritual growth. It does. that He may make you mature. Why? So that you're not tossed
about by every wind of doctrine. You that believe, you that are
mature in the faith. Are you really tempted by works
religion? I have no use for it. And if God, by grace, I long
for Him to keep me, because that's what I need. I still need the
God of all grace to keep me, no matter how mature I am. Right?
I still need the God of all grace to keep me. Why? Because I'd
be like David. I'd kill somebody, commit adultery. That's what
he did when he was mature. But yet we need this in order
to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
need this. And I'm so glad he knows how
to measure it, don't you? What if you had the suffering
you had now when you first believed? We couldn't endure it. We couldn't
bear it. But the God of all grace understands
that you must suffer in order to grow. Secondly, it establishes you. establishes you. And often when
the believer's in prosperity and is not suffering, we begin
to lean on our own strength, our own wisdom. That's just natural
for us. You put us in a time of prosperity
where I ain't suffering, you know what I'm going to trust?
I'm going to trust my mind. I'm going to trust my wisdom. Look
at this, all this is going great and guess what? I'm doing it.
I'm the captain of this ship. I think a little kid, you put
a steering wheel over on the passenger side with a little
kid, he's doing this like he's really steering something. That's
how we feel. We feel like we're in control
of things. What God does with trouble is,
is He shows us we're not in control of anything. You feel that when
you're in trouble? You feel control? You feel the
loss of it. Why? in order to show you your strength
is utter weakness, your wisdom is utter folly, and his wisdom
and his strength are the only thing that can establish you. In suffering we are established
on the rock. In suffering Everything is laid on Christ. Strengthen you. In suffering,
we find that our strength is weakness. So in faith, what do
we do in suffering? We cling to the omnipotent strength
of God. That's my, my only strength is
His strength. And listen, if you didn't suffer,
you wouldn't do that. What would you do? You'd lean
on your own strength. When suffering comes, God kicks
that crutch out from underneath you. What do you do? You fall. You find out you ain't got no
strength. That's when the God of all grace comes in and He
lifts you up. He establishes you. He strengthens
you. To what? What does He strengthen
you to do? To keep looking to Christ. Don't you need strength to keep
looking to Christ? Do you think it's natural that
you're looking to Christ? Do you think that's natural? Joanne, why in the world are
you still here? I mean, you've heard this message thousands
and thousands of times. Why? What's the purpose? His
strength keeps you. That's the only reason you're
here. His strength. The only reason I'm here is His
strength. What teaches me that? Suffering. So I don't depend
on my own strength. See, it has a purpose. And last
thing is this. Settle you. You'll be settled.
Because I'll tell you what, when I'm suffering, I don't feel settled. I feel like I'm in a tornado.
Everything around me is spinning out of control. I can't establish
anything. I'm not settled on anything.
My mind is in a constant disarray. What this does is God uses the
suffering to settle you on Him. When you're on Him, I'm settled. I'm calm. If I know I'm in Him,
I'm calm. Think of Ruth, when she laid
at His feet, Boaz, She said, cover me. I'll tell you what, she wasn't
settled until he did it, right? He covered her up and he said,
you lay here and I'll take care of everything. She was settled. She trusted
him. He settled. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Sayeth the Lord God, you speak
comfortably unto them and you tell them it's accomplished,
their warfare is accomplished. For the Lord hath received double
for all her transgressions. So in suffering you're settled. Why? Because all things are settled.
My account with God is settled. Suffering has purpose. It's not
meaningless. He was given to you by who? The
God of all grace. The God that chose you. The God
that redeemed you. The God that called you. The
God that keeps you. Listen, He's the God of all grace.
You're not going to exhaust it. Sometimes I feel like I've exhausted
it. It's not. He's the God of all
grace. He called me to eternal glory.
And you know what? He's going to bring me to eternal
glory. Why? Because it's by Jesus Christ.
That's why. It's my hope. Is that your hope? It's my hope. And listen, you're
going to suffer. You're not going to avoid it. Why? Because it has purpose. Suffering has meaning. You grow up to be strengthened and established
on the rock for ages. And that you be settled in your
mind and heart. That's what it has purpose. Purpose. I pray to God of all grace, Teach
us these things. Strengthen us by these things. Stand and be dismissed in prayer.
Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Yeah, I know. One of my sufferings is my mind
seems to be not functioning as it used to. I guess I used to
be too proud of my mind. I have nothing to be proud of.