The message this morning is called
Good Afflictions. Good Afflictions. The psalmist writes, It is good
for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. good afflictions. As you read this, as I read this,
automatically there comes up a red flag. Is there anything
about afflictions that seems good? Does anyone pray to be afflicted? Does anyone long for afflictions? Troubles? Difficulties? Trials? Temptations? Anyone? Any believer
in here? Desire these things? Long for
them? No. In all honesty. Now you may, at the strength
of your faith, say, ah, yes, give them to me. And as soon
as you get them, you don't feel that way. I know in our strength, when
everything's going well, we say with Job, though he slay me,
yet will I trust him. And then the Lord says, okay,
now I'm going to start putting the sword to you. And what is
our cry? Lord, save me. Lord, save me. We're like Peter. Lord, bid me
that I should come out on the water. Come on. We take our first step. And I
admire Peter's faith. We always down him for it, but
consider that. His faith, he did walk on the
water a bit. At least one or two steps. And
sure enough, as he be the winds and waves began to blow, and
what? He sank. Is this not our experience in
affliction? So how then could the psalmist
say, it is good for me to be afflicted? Before you can answer
that question, there must be another question that you have
to answer. In order for afflictions to be
good, you must know this. Am I a true believer in Jesus
Christ? Listen, afflictions happen to
everybody. Everybody. But I want you to understand,
they are only good to the elect. They are only good to those who
are in Christ. They are only good to those who
are believers in Christ. So if you're to understand good
afflictions, you must first know this. Am I a child of God? Am I a believer in Christ? And
so that's the first question. Before I get into how afflictions
are good, we want to know this basis, this ground. Are you a
believer? Now, there are many who profess to believe in Jesus
Christ. Many in this world do. Does anybody
know somebody that does it? I mean, you'd sooner find somebody
that... I mean, that's almost impossible
to find somebody who don't believe in Jesus. Ask people. They'll
tell you. But then, ask them if they're a believer. And what
do they do? They get offended. Now, I know some men fight you
if you start questioning their faith. Questioning if they're
a believer in Christ. How dare you ask me such a question,
preacher? Well, of course I am. You know
who else was offended when they were asked that question? The
Pharisees. They were offended, weren't they?
They were offended. Jesus told them, He said, you're
blind. He said, are we blind? Are you telling us we're blind?
That's exactly what I'm telling you. You're blind. And if you
were blind, you should see. But because you say you see,
you're yet going to die in your sins. You're in your sins. But
listen, for a true believer, there's nothing more vital than
to know that question. Is there? Remember when the Lord
Jesus told his disciples, one of you is going to betray me.
Were they offended? No, they said, Lord is it me?
Is it me? True believers want to know.
Am I his or am I not? That's an important question
to us. The greatest fear for the saint
of God is to be without Christ. I have no greater fear than to
be without Christ. To be found deceived. To a believer, making our calling
and election sure is not an offense, it's a necessity. It's a necessity. We must make our calling and
election sure. There is nothing more vital to
us than our soul. There is nothing more precious
to us than Christ. Nothing. The false professor, he fears
to be without his religion. He fears to be without his prosperity
of the flesh. They fear to be without the love
and praise of men. But the true heart of the elect
is to desire to be found in Christ. In Christ. Our desire is to have
His righteousness. Our desire is to be washed in
His blood. Our desire is to have peace with God through Him. Our
desire is to have His Spirit dwelling in us. Our desire is
to hear the Word of God. That's our desire. That's the
desire of a true believer. Hold your place here. Go over
to Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. Listen
to the Apostle Paul. Philippians chapter 3 and verse
8. Now, before I ask this, does
anyone doubt the salvation of the Apostle Paul? Anyone here
would question his love or faith in Christ or his knowledge of
Christ? His righteousness in Christ.
Yet listen to what he says. Verse 8. After he had given that
litany of things in the flesh, listen to what he says about
that. He said, Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss.
What did he count loss? His religion, his works, his
flesh, his sin, his family, his friends, anything that opposed
Christ. What did he say? I count that loss. for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord." That's what the scripture says
in Hebrews 11 about Moses having forsook. He said he refused to
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to
suffer the afflictions with the people of God. He saw the excellency of Christ,
and so do we. For I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do presently count them but dung, that I may
win Christ. Wait a second, Paul, don't you
already have Christ? Yes! Well, what do you count
all this loss for? That I may have him still, that
I may know him still, and be found not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. Listen, that's not righteousness
through faith in Christ, but rather the righteousness of faith
of Christ. That's how the righteousness
of God is obtained, by His faith. That's the righteousness I want,
Paul said. I want to be found in the righteousness He obtained.
He obtained. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. Now this is the righteousness
of God that I have received by faith. The righteousness He earned
by faith is the righteousness we receive by faith. Listen,
that I may know Him. Again, did Paul know Him? And
yet what did Paul want? That I may know Him. Paul had
his righteousness, but what was his desire? To be found in his
righteousness. And that's the desire of every
true believer. So this question is not offensive. True faith
in Christ has clear and unmistakable marks. Do I have true faith? Well, listen. True faith constantly
confesses the sin of our nature. Is that your faith? Do you constantly
confess the sin of your nature to be dung? Have you, like Paul, counted
and do count self-righteousness, works, religion, dung, useless,
unable to make you acceptable before God? Paul was the most
religious and moral and zealous man in the Jewish religion, yet
He was blameless in breaking the law before the eyes of men,
but what did He say as soon as the law of God came to Him in
power? He said, what is that, Romans
7, He says, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived, and what? I died. He saw the law in its true nature,
spiritual. It's not just outward obedience,
but thoughts and motives and intents of the heart. And listen,
true faith sees that flesh never gets better. Isn't that true? You who believe, is that not
so? The flesh never gets any better. I know men who say that, and
I have strong questions as to whether they know anything at
all about depravity. They say, yes, I'm getting holier.
Bull. That's not true. Let me get a
video camera and follow you around a little bit, and I'll show you
some things. That's not true of us. This flesh is only, the
more we grow in grace, the more exposed we are. The more the
sin comes out. Comes out. And so true faith
acknowledges, in my flesh dwells no good thing. Listen, true faith
abandons self and looks to Christ alone. Therefore, when Jesus Christ
was preached, when He revealed Himself as the Savior for sinners,
that His obedience alone merited the righteousness of God, His
blood alone atones for sin, what does this cause the sinner to
do? Forsake everything else and cleave to that. That's what it
does. True faith forsakes everything. and cleaves to Christ. We find
in Him everything we need. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. I shall not lack anything I need. And so faith flees to Christ. Flees to Christ. We look to Christ. And you know, this is the word
of us who do believe to you who don't. Look to Christ. My word
to you that don't believe. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Believe on Christ. He's the only righteousness God
will ever accept because He is God manifest in the flesh. We
who believe on Christ, we know this. We know whom we have believed. Who is He? He is God and man. God and man. Without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. You see, no man could ever merit
the righteousness of God except God. Who could merit the righteousness
of God except God? But yet how could it ever be
applied to man except we have a man represent us? This is what
Christ came into the world to do as a man. He came to be a
representative man, to obtain righteousness as God and man. And not only this, but He paid
the debt for sin. His suffering upon the cross.
There God made Him to be sin for us. The spotless Lamb of
God was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is the ground
of our faith. This is the foundation upon which
we stand. All my hope is built on Christ,
on His work and His righteousness. Therefore, we can gladly say
everything else is dung. Everything else is worthless,
only Christ. Scripture says, "...surely He
hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." Yet we, this is
our nature, we esteemed Him not, we esteemed Him strict and smitten
of God, and afflicted. But listen, He was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes
we are healed. We, like sheep, have gone astray
and turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on
Him the iniquity of us all. See Him there suffering. See
His death. Behold His death. If you were
to have any hope of standing before God, this is it. That
Christ should die in your stead. That all your sin and iniquity
should be laid on Him. That your sin should be made
His. He was made sin for us, who knew
no sin, felt no sin, thought no sin. Even when He was made
sin, He still was holy. And yet God in justice poured
out all the wrath that your sin deserves on Him. He was forsaken of God. He endured
the cross, despising the shame. To do what? To satisfy God's
justice. People think so lightly of God,
to think He's much like themselves, that His justice is just as feeble
as man's. That His forgiveness requires
no more than a sentiment. No. His forgiveness requires
payment. Payment. And without it, you
won't see God. Not in peace. Not in mercy. And we know that Jesus did not
do this for all men. He did not make atonement and
salvation possible for all men. No, we trust that Christ actually
saved His people. He accomplished the will of the
Father, which is to save all those that the Father gave Him.
And the whole of Scripture redounds to this fact. Jesus Christ was
successful. He was successful. He did what
God gave Him to do. He did the will of God. What
were His last words before His death? It is It's finished. It's finished. The will of the
Father. He said, Father, I have finished
the work which Thou gavest me to do. What work was that? Jesus
tells us plainly in John chapter 6, He said, and this is the Father's
will. People are always asking, what's
the will of God for my life? No, this is the will of God.
This is the will of God. That He whom He sent should do
His will. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all He hath given me I should lose nothing,
not one of them, but raise them up at the last day." And not
only... that's the work. That's the work
accomplished. But now then, He says, this is
also the will, the will of the work applied. He said, "...and
this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone that seeth
and believeth on Him may have everlasting life and I will raise
him up at the last day and true faith holds to this
and not only this but we believe this Christ is not dead he who
died for our sins is not dead but is now living and moving
and working all things after the counsel of his own will Now we're getting down to practical
things here. What is His will in time and
providence? What is He doing? What is Christ
doing on the throne of God right now? What is He doing? He is
doing this. He is going to save His people
from their sins experimentally. He is going to actually save
them in their own souls. He is going to bring salvation
to them personally. This is what He is doing in time. And not only this, but He is
also interceding for us. Isn't this good? You who believe
on Him. He is interceding for us constantly,
forgiving our sins. We confess our sins. He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins. Do you believe in this? Is this
your faith? This is vitally important in understanding how afflictions
are good. You must understand, is this
your faith? Is this your hope in Christ? And we know this, that this is
our hope, that this faith we have is not of ourselves. The faith we have in Christ is
not of ourselves. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the power, the right to become the sons of God, which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. By grace you are saved through
faith, and that faith not of yourselves. It faith is a gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." We are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. Oh, isn't that something? You're created. That faith was
created in you, just as a new nature. And now all who boast of faith
and of free will, they deny the power of God. They deny the Word
of God, the grace of God. They believe salvation is some
cooperative effort. Not us. Not us. Our faith knows
that salvation is by the grace of God and the power of God and
the will of God. even because God has experimentally
put this into our hearts. And our hope is in Christ, His
effectual work and His obedience, His death, His resurrection.
Our faith looks up to Christ. Our faith looks up to Christ. Is this your faith? You may say, yes, preacher, I
believe in Christ. I believe in Him alone. I do
confess that in my flesh is nothing but sin and shame and guilt. My faith is not a product of
self, it is the product of God's work, and it totally looks to
Christ alone. I gladly forsake all and count
all but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Then I want
you to understand this, to you, and you alone afflictions are
good." David said, it has been good
for me that I have been afflicted. It is good. Afflictions are good. Why? Because they are ordained
of God for your good. They are ordained of God for
your good. Go to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. The Apostle says, we greatly
rejoice. Verse 6, wherein we greatly rejoice. What is he talking
about? He's rejoicing in his election.
He said, we greatly rejoice in our election. We greatly rejoice
in our redemption. We greatly rejoice in our life
and faith. We greatly rejoice in being kept
by the power of God. But listen, wherein we greatly
rejoice. though now for a season, listen,
if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations,
that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be
found under the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Christ. Believer, we must not and should
never expect a smooth road to glory. Anybody made that mistake? It's
a rhetorical question, because I know you have. When we first
come to Christ, we expected that the water should part, and the
thorns in the road should be taken out, and no stones or obstructions. We should go on to glory, smiling
and singing and praising God. But has that been your experience?
No. No. If need be, you through heaviness
of many different temptations, There's no smooth road to heaven,
friends. We must, rather, and shall, of
necessity, endure many different trials and temptations. What
said our Lord concerning our journey through this world? What
did He tell us? In this world you shall have success. You shall have pleasant things. No. You shall have trouble. You shall have tribulation. Now, if you're faithful of the
world, the world would receive you. If you were a friend of
the world, they would receive you and it would be much easier
for you, much easier in this world for you. If you were to
acknowledge and compromise with free will works religion, I'm
sure we can get several. We can get the Southern Baptist
to fill this place, couldn't we? If we just compromise, it'd
be much smoother for us, wouldn't it? But the true believer cannot
and will not compromise. The world will hate us, and we
should expect to have its hatred. He said in another place, he
said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross. You listen, there is no crown
without a cross. There is no crown without a cross. I'll give you an illustration.
Pilgrim's progress. You see, Pilgrim and his road
was constantly full of trouble. Remember that time, the one time
he took the smooth road? He ended up in that doubting
castle, didn't he? Smooth roads are not good for
us, believer. Our road is laden with difficulty,
but there was one man that had a smooth road all the way to
death. His name was Ignorance. That
man Ignorance, he just went on and everything was fine. Oh,
it's all going to work out. You take that road, I'll take
this smooth road, and we'll all get to the same place. Well,
they did all get to death together, didn't they? They all made it
to death. But what was the end of the smooth
road? He got to the celestial city. He was not allowed entrance,
but cast out. He had no scroll. He had no promise. He had no gospel. He had not
Christ. And so you that have Christ,
you listen. Your road is going to be hard.
It's going to be hard. It's not going to be smooth. Consider Abraham. Abraham, the
father of the faithful. He's the illustration of us all,
isn't he? Abraham, the friend of God. Anybody
got a greater title than that, friend of God? That's a good
title, isn't it? Will you listen to what happened
to the friend of God? His faith was tested, and tested,
and tested, and tested. From what I understand, there
were seven testings of His faith revealed to us in Scripture.
Remember the first one? Get thee up out of thy kindred,
and from among thy father's house, and go into a land that I'll
show you. I'm not going to tell you where
it's at now, but I want you to get up and just start walking.
Anybody find any sense in that? Reason? If something happened
like that, would you not find objections? Can the flesh not
find objections to that? You bet it can. His faith was
tried. And what did he do? He went out. How many believers today are
being tried in this matter of worship? Forsake not the assembling yourselves
together as a matter of some is. clear words you cannot find,
and yet men, I know men living in cities and places that have
no place to worship, no gospel being preached, and yet they
refuse to leave. They refuse to obey the simplicity
of that command. Who did that? Lot. Does anybody here want to be
lot? I mean, nobody's standing in
line to be lot, but yet everybody's acting like it. Refusing to obey
the simple command of leave. Go find a place to worship. Go
sit where God's man is and hear the gospel being preached. Encouraging
the saints, isn't that what the assembly's for? The assembly's
not necessarily just for you, it's for everybody else. Second
temptation was this. He was led into the wilderness.
He left the riches of his family and friends for the tents of
the wilderness. Now, is that not a temptation?
Is that not a trial of faith? I know many men who have lots
of riches and good jobs, again, and still no places to worship,
but they hang on to them. Should you not leave those things
and find where God would have you to go? Hear the Word of God,
you should. Abraham did. Thirdly, you remember
his nephew, Lot, they got into an argument. Consider the temptation
of that. Abraham was the elder. Abraham
was the one God called. And yet, what did he do? In faith
to God, he said to Lot, you choose where you want to go. He gave
in to the younger. He gave in to the weaker. What
a temptation of faith. What a trial of faith that was. I know many men, many believers
argue among ourselves. We have differences and difficulties.
But isn't that not a trial of our faith? We don't look for
arguments, but when they come and differences arise, what are
we to do? It's a trial of our faith. What
are we to do? Submit. Find peace among the brethren. We're not talking about the gospel,
we're talking about minor, insignificant things. These were cows they
were talking about. Insignificant! Abraham didn't
want to argue with his brother over cows. He said, pick what
you want, take what you want. That's faith. His faith was tried
and he passed. The fourth one was those kings,
the wealth of the kings, those kings offered him all that wealth
and he said, no, no, I'm not going to let you have any glory
in this. Isn't our faith tried when the
religion of this world tempts us to their wealth and to their
access and to all their things? And what do we say? No, I won't
let you have any glory in that. We believe in God. We'll trust
God. We'll follow God. He'll make
us rich in the things of Christ. We don't need them. We don't
need the religious. A disciple said, Lord, don't
you know you offended the Pharisees? He said, let them go. Let them
go. We don't need this religious
world. The trial of our faith. What about the casting out of
Ishmael? Our Lord says, He that loveth
father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. Are you
not tempted by your family, your friends, to forsake the things
of God? Do they not come and tempt you? Was it not a trial? He loved
Ishmael. There was no doubt he loved that
boy. But he had to cast him out. God said to. Why? I said to. Is there any other reason you
need? We know the reason why. Because
it was a picture of works and grace. For us, it was a picture
of works and grace. That's why God cast him out. But Abraham didn't know that.
Abraham just believed God. And so we should forsake all
our family or friends or anyone that should oppose. This is a
trial of your faith, isn't it? Anyone tried with these things
so far? Anybody hit with these things? We all are. We all are. What do we do? Follow Abraham. Do what he did. Believe God. And forsake those things. The last one was the hardest
of Abraham's trials. What was the last one? Take now
thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest,
and offer him a sacrifice to me. Is this not the trial of our
everyday existence to take the things of the world we love the
most and sacrifice them to God? And Abraham rose early in the
morning, trusting God. trusting God. He believed God
to be good and to do good no matter how this looked. That's a trial of faith, isn't
it? Believer, let us be then sure
God will try our faith. He will take those things that
are most dear and most precious to us. He will take all of the
props that we are leaning on, all of the things we are trusting
in, and one by one, He will pull them out from underneath us.
And when He does, what does it do? It proves what you're really
leaning on. Doesn't it? Proves it. Take a cardboard box and put
it on a big stone. And you lean on it. What's supporting
your weight? The stone or the box? Stone. Take the box away and
what am I still leaning on? The stone. That's what God does. He takes away the refuse. He
burns off the dross so that we might see more clearly who we
are leaning on. Isn't that what gives you the
most assurance? To see more of Christ? More about Jesus would
I know. More of His grace to others show.
How will we know and show others His grace if we don't know it
ourselves? Experience. God is going to cause us to experience
these things. You know, it's one thing to know
doctrine. It's another thing to experience doctrine, isn't
it? I love sound doctrine, but what's
best is the experience of sound doctrine. And this is what God does over
and over and over. And just when you think there
can't be any more sin, any more trouble in me, anything. God
surely has purged me this time. Surely He's wiped it away. Surely
the fires burned every bit of the dross this time. It was a
rough trial, rough difficulty. Okay, we'll see. Why? Because there's another trial
just ahead. Just wait. This is our lot, friends. This is not uncommon. We should
expect it. And we're only surprised because
we fail to trust the Word of God. God says, expect it. Expect it. These trials prove our faith.
Isn't that what you want? Believer, isn't that what you
want? To prove your faith? To know your faith? If it's real? The only way that's done is through
the fire of trouble. Through the fire of affliction.
Remember the parable of the sower? How do we know the difference
between the stony ground here and the good ground here? Wasn't
it affliction? Affliction, the sun. The sun
come up in the noonday and burn up the one that didn't have true
faith. Now look back, believer, at all
your troubles and all your trials that God has safely brought you
through. Are you not still here? It is good that I have been afflicted
that I might know thy statutes. It's good. Thank God for the
afflictions Otherwise, I should well question my faith. But because of the afflictions,
I see more clearly who it is I believe. Who it is I trust. And I see more clearly who it
is I don't trust. Me. I don't trust me. I trust Him. are afflictions. They only burn the draws. I'll read this to you and tell
me this sounds familiar. I ask the Lord that I might grow
in faith and love and every grace. Might more of his salvation know
and seek more earnestly his face. It was He who taught me thus
to pray, and I trust has answered prayer. But it has been in such
a way that almost drove me to despair. I hope that in some
favored hour, at once He'd answer my request, and by His love's
constraining power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead
of this, He made me feel the hidden evils of my heart and
let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yes, more with his own hand he
seemed intent to aggravate my woe, crossed all my fair designs
I schemed, blasted my gourds and laid me low. Lord, why is
this? I trembling cried. will you pursue
your worm to death?" This is the way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and strength. These inward trials employ from
self and pride to set thee free and break your schemes of earthly
joy that you might find thine own
in me." Surely this has been our experience. Our troubles and trials are intended
of God to do one thing, draw us closer to Him. And so then in thy trials you may say, it is good. It is good. Trials are good. You know what
the Lord says, He said this in Jeremiah, He said, I know my
thoughts that I think towards you. How often are you confused about
what God thinks about you? God says, I know my thoughts
to you. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil. To give you an expected end. Now, what can comfort the soul
more than an expected end? If you know the end of all things,
should that not give you comfort? When you don't understand what's
going on in the middle? Would it matter what's going on in
the middle if you knew the end? What is your expected end? Peace. Heaven. The love of God. Joy of Christ. Redemption. Righteousness. That's
your end. How is God going to get us there?
Through much tribulation for much. Why then do we expect something
different? Let us be faithful like Abraham
to obey God and forsake what we think or feel. No, this is
how God's causing us to grow. You got affliction? It's good. It's good because God sent it,
it's good because God controls it, and it's good because God
intends it for your good. All things work together. All
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. Are you a believer?
If you're not, afflictions aren't good. They're not good for you. They're good for children of
God. Give us, please, please give
us such faith to trust Thee. I pray God will bless this. The
stand be dismissed.