I want to read from verse 6. Actually, let's just read the
whole psalm. Psalm 34, I will bless the Lord
at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard
me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto Him,
and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This
poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out
of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth
around them that fear Him, and delivereth them. Oh, taste and
see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints,
for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions
do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall
not want any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto
me. I will teach you the fear of
the Lord. What man is he that desireth
life and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue
from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil,
and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it. The
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open
unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against
them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from
the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth
them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth
all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the
wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them
that trust in him shall be desolate. You see in this psalm the difference
between how God is gracious to the righteous and how he brings
his rebuke on those who are not righteous, the wicked. This favor
comes to the people of God because of the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so I want to turn with you
to Matthew chapter 5, because this is just a background text. You see in here how the righteous
cry. It's given to them to cry. And
in their crying, God delivers them. And this is the theme of
Scripture. God delivering His people, and
God punishing the wicked. God is righteous in both, but
we have to understand how this, why this is. So look at Matthew
chapter 5 verse 10. We're continuing with the Beatitudes
here. We're going to read verse 10 through 11. The title of our
message today is Suffering. Suffering for Christ's sake.
Verse 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when
men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding
glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Now, Matthew 5, and
we've been studying this from verse 3 through verse 12, is
part of the Sermon on the Mount. And in it, the Lord Jesus Christ
pronounces nine blessings, blessed are. Nine times He says this. And each of these are given to
His people, believers. They're the gifts of God's grace.
They are attitudes that He produces, not something we produce. Every
child of God is given these in the new birth, and He maintains
them, God maintains them, by His Spirit throughout our lives.
Each of these enable us to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, what He's
done for us. For example, to be poor in spirit. God makes us poor in spirit.
We just read about how the righteous cry. And this is the theme of
Scripture. His people are made poor, they
cry, He delivers them. God is glorified and they're
saved. You see this over and over, the
same pattern. It says in Luke 153, God has filled the hungry
with good things, and the rich He has sent empty away. That's
the theme. Not those who have spiritual
value in themselves are blessed, but those who have nothing in
themselves and have everything in Christ. A poor in spirit person
is one who not only knows his own poverty, but knows that all
of his hope is in Christ. And that's why I say, Our poverty
is given to us to allow us to receive what God has done for
us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And each of these attitudes are
like that. They not only change our attitude
internally about our own selves, but they also change our attitude
towards God and cause us to receive what He's done for us. And they
change our attitudes towards others. they cause us to be merciful,
and they cause us to be peacemakers, seeking God's salvation for others
as well as ourselves. Now, in the last of these blessednesses,
in this one in verse 10, blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake, you can see here how The disciples
of Christ are listening to him say things that are entirely
the opposite of what they have been hearing all their lives.
The Pharisees promote themselves. The Pharisees gain confidence
in what they do. And they parade themselves before
him. And they're not poor in spirit. They don't mourn. They
appear to be delightful and self-satisfied in their own accomplishments.
And the Pharisees are not meek, and they certainly don't hunger
and thirst for Christ's righteousness. They're neither merciful, nor
are they pure in heart. And they're not peacemakers because
they don't seek peace with God on the basis of Christ's propitiation
alone, and they don't seek the peace for God with men on the
same basis. And the last thing that the Pharisee
would take delight in is being persecuted for righteousness
sake. They think, they think that they're persecuted for what
they do that's right. And in some sense they deserve
what they get. Men who parade themselves, who
despise others because they see others as lower than themselves
are arrogant. And God hates pride. In Proverbs,
He says, these six things does the Lord hate. And the top of
the list is pride. And men naturally find pride
offensive. Have you ever thought that? You
see someone who's arrogant and naturally makes you want to shrink
back because you see that they're promoting themselves. Promoting
ourselves is not what God is speaking about here when He says,
blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. Neither
is the Lord Jesus Christ focusing so much on our obedience and
outward show of obedience that others would persecute us for. For example, if I'm faithful
to my wife, will men persecute me for that? Some might, most
won't. If I tell the truth, will men
persecute me for telling the truth? Some might, but most won't. But there is something that gets
at the very core of what we are by nature. When we promote righteousness,
according to this verse, then men are threatened. And that
righteousness of which God speaks here is the righteousness that
comes from God only. It's God's righteousness that
we're persecuted for. When we speak of, when Psalm
71, 16, it says, I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. And we speak of the fact that
all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, then men are
threatened. Men are threatened because we
are taking away their only hope. They hope that something they
do, something they are, some experience they've had is going
to make them acceptable to God and make them more pleasing with
God. Especially give them a relative promotion among men so that to
men they appear more than their fellow. But this is not appealing
to men, to speak of Christ's righteousness, because it requires
us to be void of our own righteousness and take on the righteousness,
an alien righteousness, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this
is what the Lord is talking about here. Blessed are they who are
persecuted for righteousness' sake. When we speak about that
God only receives the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ for
His people, When we say that, and we say that Christ is all
my hope, then men say several things. They say, well, you have
to do something. You have to do something. How
many times have you heard that? And they accuse you of being
antinomian, anti-law, not wanting to keep the law, not doing anything.
You're not doing anything. But that's not what God is talking... I mean, that's not what the heart
of the believer is. The heart of the believer is
not speaking about Christ's righteousness in order to give themselves a
free pass so they can have liberty to do what they want or not to
please God. When we speak of Christ's righteousness,
we're saying that everything we do by nature is full of sin. But God only accepts and has
provided the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus
says, blessed are you when you're persecuted for righteousness
sake. In John 7, it says that his brethren did not believe
on him. And in fact, take a look at that
in John chapter 7. This is one of those places that
teaches why men persecute us. And we're going to be looking
a lot at this in a minute here. It says here in verse 7 of John
chapter 7. In fact, I'll read verse 6. Because
his brethren did not believe on him Jesus said to them my
time is not yet come but your time is always ready They said
to Jesus if you're trying to make yourself known then why
don't you go to the feast? No man does anything in secret
who seeks to be known openly. You must seek to be known openly.
Well, go to the feast and show yourself to the world." And his
brethren didn't believe in him. But verse 6, Jesus said, "'My
time is not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world
cannot hate you. But me, it hateth, because I
testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." What Jesus
said was that the works of the world were evil. What, their
evil works were evil? Those apparently were evil. But
the works the world was offended at when Jesus said they were
evil were their good works. Their good works. He revealed
that their best works were evil. He said many things to the Pharisees
to uncover what was in their heart. And by uncovering what
was in their heart, He showed that their heart was evil and
their outward works were just superficial. And at best, occasional
conformance, outward conformance to the law of God. But that offended
them and so they hated Him. But here we're entering into
a great subject. A subject of suffering persecution
for Christ's sake. Now, when you read the scripture,
you can't avoid this topic. From Genesis to Revelation and
throughout all you read about throughout those scriptures,
what you read about there is the suffering of God's people
at the hand of wicked men and Satan and all that would oppose
God's kingdom. You read about this throughout
scripture and you see what appears to be the subjugation of God's people
to cruelty and evil and wickedness and suffering and persecution.
And you wonder, why is this? Why is this? Why does this come
about like this? And in several places of Scripture,
you see this. And we could just think of just
a few places in Scripture. Just think of how in the land
of Egypt, Pharaoh persecuted the children of Egypt for over
400 years. A wicked king persecuting God's people for over 400 years,
and God finally delivers them. Why did God allow that suffering?
Why did the king persecute them? Well, it all gets back to the
very fundamental thing that starts in the book of Genesis. And you
know this verse. I'll just read it to you. God
says to Eve, I will put enmity. between thee and the woman, speaking
to Satan, he says, I will put enmity between thee, Satan, and
the woman, and between thy seed, the seed of the serpent, and
her seed, it the seed of the woman shall bruise
thy head, and thou, the seed of Satan, shall bruise his heel."
In other words, there's this constant warfare between evil,
Satan's kingdom, and Christ and His kingdom. And that was set
forth for us in the book of Genesis. And God says, I'm going to put
this enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of
the woman. And this is going to go on throughout all of history. all of history this would occur
and so you see it. What was the first thing that
happened after they left the Garden of Eden? Abel was killed
by his brother. Cain rose up against his brother
in hatred of his brother because Abel offered to God an excellent
sacrifice and God accepted him and said he was righteous and
Cain envied Abel. Because God accepted Abel on
the basis of blood sacrifice and Cain slew his brother Abel
because his own deeds were wicked and Abel's were righteous. And
the story just goes on throughout scripture. passage after passage. When we look at this, it's comprehensive. It's so large in the topic that
it's hard to get our hands around it. How extensive it is that
God has subjected his people to this suffering. And there's
so many cases. Take a look at in the book of
Daniel. Because the people of Israel
were taken from their land by the Babylonians, and while they
were there, they were put under, they were made slaves, and they
attempted to make them serve other gods, the gods of the Babylonians. But in Daniel chapter 3, the
famous story in verse 16, I will read this to you. You know the
story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember that story?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I'll read it to you from verse
13. There was a king, a wicked king, whose name was Nebuchadnezzar.
And in his rage and fury he commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
be brought to him before the king. Because the king had made
a great image of gold. this image of gold was tall so
that all could see it and he commanded that when the people
heard the music they should all bow down and worship the image
that he set up And so it says they brought these men, Shadrach
and Meshach and Abednego, before the king Nebuchadnezzar, because
they would not bow down. They would not bow down. And
you can see thousands of people round this image. The image standing
high out of the surface. And the king sending the command
to play the music. And as the music plays, everyone
falls down. except these three men standing
there in opposition to the king's command. They would not obey
the king, but they would obey their God. In verse 14, Nebuchadnezzar
spake and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, do you not serve, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship
the golden image which I have set up? Now, if you be ready,
That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall
down and worship the image which I have made? Well, but if you
will not worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst
of a burning, fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands? This man was proud. He was so
proud. He had all these people obeying
his every command, except these three men. And in this thing,
they would not obey the king, because the king's word was against
God's law. And so they stood up and they
said, And he said, who will deliver you out of my hand? What God
is going to deliver you out of my hand? I'm going to cast you
into the burning fiery furnace. He threatened them. And now listen
to their reply. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not
careful to answer thee in this matter. We're not taking concern
over the words that we have to say. We're going to tell you
exactly what God has to say to you. They say this in verse 17. Listen. If it be so, our God
whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. God is able to deliver us from
the burning fiery furnace. I know that He is. We know that
He is able to do that. And He will deliver us out of
thine hand, O King. But if not, in other words, if
not from the burning fiery furnace, be it known unto thee, O king,
that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image
which thou hast set up." What a statement. What faith Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego had that they would only serve God God
had taught them this. He had put it into them. He had
given them this faith. And they could not deny, like
Peter, when Jesus asked his disciples, will you also go? And Peter said,
where else would we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew the only true and
living God was the Lord Jesus Christ. And they believed Him.
And no matter what the king said and threatened them, even throwing
them into a burning fiery furnace, they said, it won't matter. Because if you cast us into the
burning fiery furnace, two things are going to happen. One of two
things. Either God's going to deliver us out of that burning
fiery furnace. and out of your hand. Or, He
will not deliver us out of the burning fiery furnace, but He
will deliver us out of your hand. Because He's going to take us
to glory, and we will be with the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
Just like the thief on the cross. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. And so then in verse 19, then
it says that Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury. He was so angry
that his whole look, his face, and everything changed against
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And therefore he spake and he
commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times hotter
than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, to tie him up.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to pick them up and to throw
them into the burning fiery furnace. And they had their coats on,
they had all their clothes on, and their hats, and all their
garments. And they were picked up by these men and cast into
the burning fiery furnace, because the king's commandment was so
urgent, and the furnace was exceeding hot, and the flame of the fire
slew those mighty men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down
bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. And then King
Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose up in a hurry and
haste, and he said to his counselors, Didn't we cast three men bound
into the midst of the fire? And they answered and said to
the king, True, O king, And he answered and said, Lo, I see
four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near
to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth,
come out. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
came out of the midst of the fire. And the princes, and the
governors, and the captains, and the king's counselors gathered
together and saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no
power. Not even their hair was singed, and neither were their
coats changed, nor the smell of fire had even passed on them.
And Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered
his servants that trusted in him and have changed the king's
word and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor
worship any god except their own God. You see that? Here we
have this drama. It really happens. Three men
thrown into the fire at the angry king's command in order to destroy
them. And God delivers them out of
his hand. He delivers them out of his hand
because they yielded their bodies and they trusted their souls
to the Lord who judges righteously and God saved them. This is amazing. Does God always save His people
this way? Does He always deliver them out
of the burning fiery furnace? The answer is, He doesn't deliver
them out of the burning fiery furnace. Sometimes they die. But in their dying, they're delivered.
In their dying, they're delivered. Because even though they die
in death, They don't die the second death. They're brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. In glory. And so this is the
theme throughout scripture. God's people are troubled. They're
persecuted. They're afflicted. And in this
affliction, They're treated badly. They're lied against. They're
separated from the rest of people. And they're spoken against. Their
names are made to be to drag them through shame and made them
to look evil in the eyes of others. And then their goods are taken
from them and even their bodies are hurt. And this is what God
does. And it raises the question, why
would the Lord allow his people to suffer such agony, such trouble? Well, there's a lot of reasons,
I think, why God does this. But remember now, the Lord Jesus
Christ speaks here in Matthew 5 to his disciples, and he tells
them before it comes to pass, he said, blessed are you when
you are persecuted for righteousness sake, when you're persecuted
for my name's sake. He tells them this because he
knows the will of God. He knows what's coming upon them.
He sees it not only in God's will, general principle, but
he sees it in their lives, and he's telling them this for their
comfort. What if you were a disciple of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you followed him, and he didn't tell
this to you, and suddenly men start accusing you, and treating
you shamefully, and treating you like you were the evil doer,
falsely accusing you, and taking your goods from you, and hurting
your own life, and maybe the lives of your loved ones. What
would you think? Well, God must not be pleased with me. God must
be bringing his justice on me for evil. But the Lord tells
him, no, no, it's not for that. It's not a compensation to you
for what you've done. It's for the glory of God. God
brings trouble. God brings suffering. He does
all this in order that he might be glorified. And this principle
is spoken of in the Psalms over and over. But look at just one
of them. I refer this to you often, but look at this in Psalm
chapter 50. Psalm chapter 50. Whenever we're
in trouble, whatever we do when we're in trouble, is the evidence
of what's in our hearts. We just read in Psalm 34, the
righteous cry and the Lord delivers him. This is the principle. When
God's people are in trouble, what do they do? They cry. And
what do they cry? Who do they cry to? They cry
to the Lord. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
trusted in their God. Because they trusted in God,
all the trouble that came upon them, to them, was just a temporary
inconvenience. It was potentially life-threatening,
and they could lose their lives. Some were sawn asunder. Some
were killed with a sword. Some were hung on crosses, and
some were burned at the stake. But listen to these words in
Psalm 50, 15. "'Call upon Me,' God says to His people, in the
day of trouble.'" And here's what God is going to do. I will
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego knew this. They told the king, they said,
Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us. He is able to
deliver us. And He will deliver us out of
your hand, O king. Your will will not be done. God's
will will be done. And God says, His people will
call upon Him in the day of trouble, and God will deliver them. What
a promise. And this is what's going to happen. God will get glory out of their
deliverance. You see, in all of our suffering,
The one thing that it comforts us, doesn't it comfort you to
know that in all of our suffering, first of all, that it's God's
will? And secondly, that being God's will, He gets glory out
of it? It does comfort us for those reasons. It's God's will
and God is getting the glory. He's going to save us, even though
we may experience a temporary setback, we're going to win.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes in a war, men fight and they
are wounded. And not only are they wounded,
they might even lose their limbs. They might even lose a battle.
They might lose several battles. But what really matters is that
ultimately they win the war. Ultimately, if they win the war,
they are the victors. And so in the Christian life,
We are victors. And God brings trouble. He brings
trouble in our lives. He brings afflictions in various
forms, persecutions, in order for us to call upon Him in the
day of trouble so that He can deliver us. And in our deliverance,
in our salvation, He gets the glory. And you see this in many
ways in scripture. Take a look at Philippians chapter
1. You see why God brings suffering
in our lives. Why he brings persecution. Philippians
chapter 1. Many questions about this rise
in our minds. Who does the persecuting? Why
do they do this? And why is God allowing it? What's
the outcome from it? All these things naturally come
to our minds, especially when we're in any trouble. But in
verse 27 of Philippians 1, Paul tells the Philippians, he says,
In other words, let your behavior align with the truths of the gospel
of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in spirit, with
one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." So
he tells them, I want you to stand fast in the truth of the
gospel, and I want you to strive together for the faith of the
gospel. This is like a conflict, it's a war. It's a constant activity
where we're striving for a goal. And there's a conflict along
the way. But in verse 28 he says this,
And in nothing, terrified by your adversaries, which is to
them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that
of God for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only
to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake having the
same conflicts which you saw in me and now here to be in me.
Paul says Philippians, understand, you saw conflict in me, you saw
my suffering, it's given to you on the behalf of Christ also
to suffer for Him. And there's two things that he
points out in verse 28. that this has an effect. Number one,
it has an effect that for those who persecute you, it's an evident
token of perdition. In other words, for them, it's
an evident token. It's the evidence that for them,
God is opposed to them. They're on the side of evil. They're on the side of the wicked
because they're persecuting God's people. And on our part, It's
a sign of our salvation, because God is bringing this trouble,
this persecution, this suffering into our lives, so that in that
persecution we call upon Him, and He delivers us, and He shows
Himself strong. But not only so that we can be
delivered from this, but also because it gives an evidence
that our faith is genuine. And this also is seen in several
places. It gives evidence that our faith
is genuine. Look in Romans chapter 8. Romans
8, our faith is seen to be genuine because when we suffer, it's
God who's bringing this. If you were in the battle and
the enemy was fighting against you, then you would assume that
he was opposed to you, right? I mean, he's fighting against
you because you were his enemy. And so if you're the enemy of
the kingdom of Satan, why would you be his enemy? Because you're
on the side of Christ. That's one way to look at it.
But look here in Romans chapter 8 and verse 18. 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." If you were to think
about a woman, a mother who has a child and in the process of
childbearing she experiences all this pain and suffering.
But after her child is born, she forgets all of that because
she's so happy that now she has the baby. The baby is alive and
in her arms and looking up at her. And she's entirely taken
by the love she has for her child. And all of the sufferings and
the pain and the sorrow and childbearing seem to just fade away infinitely,
immeasurably more. is the comparison of our sufferings
now in comparison to what we will receive with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Think about this. Here you are,
you're caught up as an opponent in a war. And you have literally
millions of enemies, and they're all coming against you. And there
you are, huddled up, waiting for the end. They're about to
destroy you. And suddenly, the heavens open,
and the King of Glory comes down and stands on the side of this
one saint. while all the world opposes them,
and finds this one saint, this one person, this one believer,
who is helpless in themselves, nothing in themselves, but standing
for the truth of the gospel, standing on the truth that they're
saved by grace alone, saved for Christ's sake alone, saved to
the glory of God alone, calling upon Him, waiting for His salvation.
And the King of glory comes with all of His regal majesty and
power. And He comes on behalf of that one. And with the word
of His mouth, with the sword of His mouth, He destroys all
of His enemies. That's what it means here. The
glory that shall be revealed in us. God has delivered us from
death. He's delivered us from sin by
His Son. He's reconciled us to Himself.
And now we're reconciled to God. We're at peace with Him. And
He is strong. He shows Himself strong for His
people. And He says, the sufferings of
this present time, they're not even worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed in us. We are going to be taken
to glory, to reign with the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't even begin
to describe what that means. I don't even know if my heart
believes it. But He says, nevertheless, For
the earnest expectation of the creature, or the creation, waits
for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together till now, and
not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we're
saved by hope. We're saved by hope. We don't
see the salvation with our physical eyes. There's no visible evidence
of this. We walk in faith. By the Spirit
of God, we wait for the hope of righteousness through faith.
And so we're waiting, we're looking, and we're hoping. And this faith
is waiting on God, trusting His Word. We have nothing to stand
on but the bare Word of God. The bare Word of God, that He
made Christ to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. The bare Word of God, that it's
Christ who died, and because He died, we're delivered from
wrath to come. And we stand on that, and we
hope in that, and we long to be with Him, long to see His
face. And God says that He's strong
on behalf of those who are given this faith. We are saved by hope,
but hope that's seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it? And so the Spirit
of God is in our hearts, interceding according to the will of God.
And that intercession in our hearts is expressed in our groanings. Groanings under the suffering
and pain of this life. Groanings in trying to carry
on this profession, this confession that Christ is all to us. before
men and in our own conscience. This groaning and God's Spirit
intercedes for us according to the will of God. And that intercession
is heard by the Lord Jesus Christ who searches the hearts. He knows
what is the mind of the Spirit because He makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And God is working
all things like an intricate clock. together to turn the hands
of God's purpose one click at a time toward that eventual fulfillment
in glory when our bodies are redeemed and we stand before
the Lord and bow before Him and say, clothed in His righteousness,
washed in His blood unto Him who loved us and washed us in
His blood. And we give Him all the glory
because He says in these verses that follow that you know them
well. Look at verse 34. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? shall distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, any of these things,
as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. And you wonder, why would God
do this? Why would he make his people
like sheep for the slaughter? Well, one of the reasons is given
in the next verse. He says, You see, as we look
to Christ, As God fulfills His will for
His people, His eternal will to bring us to glory, to conform
us to the image of His Son. That's His will, isn't it? He
predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. And
He's working all things in our life to bring that about. One
of the reasons for our suffering and these persecutions, all these
things that he names here that shall not be able to separate
us from the love of God, one of the reasons is so that we
are conformed to Christ's image and that at the end of the day,
We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. What does
this mean? It means that all of our salvation in every part,
in every detail, is shown to be by the grace of God, by the
power of God, and nothing of ourselves. We have no reason
to doubt because God said it, God performed it, He will bring
it to pass, and He will get all the glory from it. Look at 2
Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Actually, go to 1 Peter before
you go there. Go to 1 Peter. I want you to
look at this. Why does God allow his people to suffer? He says
in 1 Peter chapter 2, In verse 19, this is thankworthy
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when
you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently?
But if you do well and suffer for it, and you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. Listen to this next verse. For
even here unto were you called, because Christ also suffered
for us. leaving us an example that you
should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found
in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when
he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him
that judges righteously who his own self bear our sins in his
own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live
to righteousness by whose stripes you were healed for you were
as sheep going astray but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls." What's he saying here? The Lord Jesus
Christ suffered. He had no sin. He quietly and
submissively resigned himself to the will of God. He who was
righteous was accused of being a sinner. He who was the son
of God was accused of being a servant of Satan. a drunkard, a wine-bibber,
and a glutton. He was accused of many things.
He was spit upon, and beaten, and hit, and covered his face,
and all these things. These things came upon our Lord.
And what did He do? What was His response? He committed
Himself to Him who judges righteously. He was patient in it. He looked
to His Father. He trusted in His Father that
He would accomplish His will through His sufferings. The Lord
Jesus Christ suffered in His sufferings. He committed Himself
to God, trusting that God would accomplish all of his will through
his sufferings. And he says, he's our example. We commit ourselves to God. We
trust that God will accomplish his will in our sufferings. But not only that, but why did
the Lord Jesus Christ suffer? Why was it the will of God that
he suffer? In his case, it was to suffer in the place of his
people, to take their sins away, to remove the wrath of God, to
make peace between God and them, and to remove their hostilities
so that they would be able to approach God by his blood, without
sin, with calm assurance that they were accepted for Christ's
sake. He did all that in his suffering. And what about us
and our sufferings? What does it accomplish in our
case? Well, I already mentioned the
fact that God uses our sufferings to conform us to Christ's image,
but notice this in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and other places. In fact, before we go to 2 Corinthians
10, look at Acts, Acts chapter 20, what Paul says of himself. Acts chapter 20, it says, In
verse, well I'm just going to jump in the middle here. In verse
20 he says, I kept back nothing from you. Acts chapter 20 verse
20. I didn't keep anything back from
you that was profitable to you. But I've showed you and have
taught you publicly and from house to house testifying both
to Jews and also to the Greeks. Repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me. He knew in his... Paul knew that
he was appointed to suffering. And so he says, I go bound in
the spirit to Jerusalem. I know in my spirit I'm going
to be bound by going there. Not knowing exactly the things
that shall befall me. Verse 23. Save that the Holy
Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me. They're waiting for me there.
Look at chapter 21. And verse, chapter 21 is just
across the page. And it says that in verse 10,
verse 9, verse 8 actually, it says, the next day Luke and Paul
and others that were with him, it says, the next day we that
were of Paul's company departed and came to Caesarea and we entered
into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of
the seven, and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters,
virgins, that did prophesy. And as we tarried there many
days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus.
And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound
his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So
shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle,
and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when
we heard these things, both we and they of that place, besought
Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. And Paul answered, What mean
ye to weep and to break my heart? I am ready not to be bound only,
but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then look back at 20, verse
24. When he said, The Holy Ghost
shows me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide
me, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life
dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God. Now the Lord Jesus Christ suffered
to pay for the sins of his people, to bring them to God, to bring
them to glory, to deliver them from this present evil world.
Paul was sent by Christ to proclaim that gospel. Christ appointed
Paul to sufferings as part of his ministry in proclaiming that
gospel. Why? in the same vein as why the Lord
Jesus Christ suffered. Why did Christ suffer? To bring
many sons to glory. Why did Paul suffer? To bring
the gospel so that those who heard the gospel might be brought
into a state of reconciliation with God himself through Christ.
And so God uses He sends his ambassadors, his prophets, his
apostles, and his ministers with the gospel. And with that gospel,
the purpose of God is to bring those who in their nature are
his enemies, and use all things, even their own opposition, To
show that in spite of themselves, God uses their hostilities to
bring about his will, humbling his people before them, even
the suffering and death of his own son, in order to save them.
This is the magnification of God's grace in the salvation
of his people. That he would send his son, and
send his prophets, and send his people, in order to bring the
gospel to us. If you believe the gospel, know
this that God has laid down the lives of men and women in order
for you to hold it in your hand to hear it and to believe it
God has given men and men's lives and the life of his own son so
that you might have eternal life and this life came at the highest
cost that is magnifying the grace of God It's God's will that we
suffer, because in suffering, it's God's purpose to magnify
His grace in the salvation of sinners. The salvation of sinners. But not only that, but now turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And Paul was happy to do that.
He says to the people he ministered, he says, I will, in fact we're
going to read it here, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Look at this. Paul was taken up to the third
heaven. I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter
12. When he was in the third heaven,
he saw things that men had never known. He saw glorious things. He couldn't describe them. In
fact, it was not lawful for him to tell about what he saw. But
God knowing That He was in the flesh. God knowing that He would
be exalted above measure. By seeing these revelations,
God sent Him a thorn in the flesh. A messenger of Satan to buffet
Him. Like a punching bag, to buffet
Him. To keep Him low. And so it says
in verse 7 of chapter 12, 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7. Lest I should
be exalted above measure. In other words, he's talking
about his own propensity to pride. Through the abundance of the
revelation there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. He says it twice. For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said to me, my
grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect
in weakness wow why does God allow his people to suffer because
he empties us of ourselves he strips us of our pride and all
of our abilities and leaves us hanging like we did in salvation
for everything on Christ Dependent on His grace. He says, My grace
is sufficient for thee. Grace is why we're saved. Grace
is how we overcome sin. Grace is the reason that God
sent His Son. Grace, grace unto it. That's what His people say. And
God says to Paul, it's by the grace of God. He's going to bring
us, He's going to reveal our weakness, and in our weakness,
He's going to show His grace, and in His grace, He's going
to show Himself strong, to make His glory known, strong on behalf
of His people, strong to save His people. And so He says, Most
gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. So when we're brought low, when
suffering comes and persecutions come, what does it do? The righteous
cry, call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you,
and you shall glorify me." How? Because in our weakness, God's
grace, strength is made perfect. He says, verse 10, therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I
am weak, then am I strong. Then am I strong. And look down
at verse 14. He says, All these things he did, all
these things he did, he did for the sake of these people. He
says, Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and
I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you. I seek not yours, but you. Paul was not after their goods. He wasn't after their praise. He wasn't after their promotion.
He didn't care what they thought about him personally. He sought
them. He wanted their salvation. He
wanted them to be presented to Christ as a chaste virgin. And
so he says, for the children ought not to lay up for the parents,
but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend
and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you,
the less I be loved. So to the Corinthians and to
all the people that Paul ministered, he says, my desire What God has
put in my heart is to bring you... a chaste virgin to Christ, to
bring you into a single faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with
nothing between, with no other hope, no other confidence, a
mature faith. And in the process of doing that,
bringing you the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going
to spend what I have, I'm going to work with my hands, and I
myself personally will be spent out, wrung out, afflicted, persecuted,
tortured, and even die for you that the gospel might be brought.
And to me, this is not, this is a continuation, isn't it?
Of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. It's a continuation. He lays down the life of his
people in order that he might bring the gospel to us. To us. And that's amazing to
me. Now to us, to us who hear the gospel, we're exhorted also
to suffer for His sake. And I want to look at a few verses
with you under this head, that we are called to suffering. Look
at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. He says, In verse 14, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2, verse 14, You brethren became followers of the churches
of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. You, the Thessalonians,
became followers of the other saints, believing what they believed. Following the exhortation, they
gave themselves to reading and to service of Christ and everything
that those churches were doing. They were the same. And so it
says here, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. Those Jews,
those churches that were in Judea, they followed them. These were
Gentile churches in Thessalonians. He says, for you also have suffered
like things of your countrymen, your own countrymen, even as
they have the Jews. The Jews. He says, You Thessalonians
are suffering at the hands of your own countrymen, just like
the churches in Judea suffered at the hands of the Jews. Now
this reveals several things. One is that they followed them
not only in what they believed, but they were followers in them
because God's will was that they should suffer at the hands of
the same people, the same kind of people as the Jewish believers
did. If you read this account in Acts
17, what you find is that the Jews came to Thessalonica and
they stirred up men, it says there, of the baser sort, evil
men. The Judaizers, the believers
in the Jews religion stirred these men up in order that they
might stop the gospel, in order that they might persecute Jason
and several others there in Acts 17. Paul refers to that there
he refers to that here he says you were persecuted at the hands
of your own countrymen these men who were stirred up by the
Jews And so what you see here is that there's a certain kind
of persecution that comes about by trusting in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it always comes from the same source. Where does persecution
come from? Well we know ultimately it comes
by the will of God. But from men? What kind of men
does it come from? It comes from the religious men. The churches in Judea, who persecuted
the churches in Judea? It was the Jews. Not just the
Jews who were descendants of Abraham, but Jews who held, who
believed, and whose religion it was to be saved, to be righteous
before God's law by what they did. That was the Jews' religion. The Jews' religion was righteousness
of the law by works. You can read about that in Romans
10, several places. That was their religion in a
nutshell. Righteousness before God's law by what I do, by what
I am. My birth, my obedience, my personal
obedience, my character, my nation, the promises of God to the nation.
That was their hope. And so the Christians were persecuted
by the Jews. The religious world that holds
to Righteousness by man's will, by man's work, by man's obedience,
by something in man. And when the gospel comes, it
strips men of all they're able to boast in, it takes away everything
they trusted in, and it leaves them naked and bare and just
as wicked as the publicans and the sinners. And that Threatens
them that gives them Raises up their hatred and so they persecuted
these men they persecuted them and so it goes on look at Galatians
chapter Chapter 4. I'm sorry Galatians chapter 4 Yeah, chapter, oh, I'm looking
at Ephesians. No wonder I couldn't see it.
Galatians chapter 4. He says this, you know Ishmael
and Isaac. Ishmael was born of the slave
woman, Hagar. Isaac of Sarah, the free woman.
And there's a huge instruction from that, that Hagar was like
Sinai, and Sinai was the covenant of works, the Jews religion was
the covenant of works, so Paul says Jerusalem, which now is,
is that covenant, that covenant of works. But Sarah was of the
free woman, she wasn't a slave, and Isaac was born by promise,
and all of God's people are heirs of God by promise, by promise
of Jesus Christ. But what happened in the Old
Testament was that Ishmael persecuted Isaac when he was born, when
he was circumcised. Hagar's son Ishmael, taunting
or making fun of Isaac. And she said, Sarah got angry
at her, and so she commanded that he be put out. And that's
what happened. But look at Galatians chapter
4, it says in verse 28, Now we brethren, we believers who hold
to the Lord Jesus Christ, who trust Him only, we brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free. So then brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, but children of the free. But the
point here is that verse 28 and 29, just as Isaac was persecuted
by Ishmael, the free, the child of promise persecuted by the
slave. We see here, those who hold to
salvation by works are in bondage. They're slaves of sin. Those
who are free are children by adoption in Jesus Christ, children
of God's grace, children of His mercy, His electing love, and
His redeeming grace in Christ. But there's always a persecution
that occurs, because when men hear That it's God's choice and
not theirs. When they hear that it's who
Christ died for and that it's not their decision to make Christ
work, work for them. When they hear that it's the
Spirit's effectual calling and not their own decision. And when
they hear that it's God's preserving grace, and not my consecrating
and dedicating myself that keeps me saved. When they hear all
those things, it takes away what they trust in, it removes from
them all cause of boasting, and they're left naked and bare before
God, dependent entirely upon the will and the mercy of God
in Christ. persecute those who hold that truth and so in the
book of Galatians the Judaizers came in and they tried to get
the Galatians to except their teaching, that they were not
just saved by grace, they were saved also by what they could
do. They're not only saved, but they were sanctified by what
they would do. Be circumcised, it'll add to
what you have. It'll make you perfect. You'll
have to trust in the law, just like we do. It'll take away all
the offense. And Paul says, in fact, in Galatians
chapter 5, verse 11, he says, If I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross
is ceased. If he preached salvation by works,
there's no offense. But preaching salvation by grace,
there's offense. And so one more verse. Look at
Hebrews chapter 13. This goes throughout scripture. Hebrews chapter 13, like I said,
it doesn't matter which book you open, there's persecution
in the Word of God against God's people. But in Hebrews chapter
13, he says in verse 10, we have an altar. We have an altar. There is an altar on earth, but
we have another altar. Whereof they have no right to
eat which serve the tabernacle. Our altar is in heaven. Our tabernacle
is in heaven. He says in verse 11, for the
bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore
Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood
suffered without the gate. We're sanctified by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this verse is teaching.
But it's also teaching that in order for him to sanctify his
people he had to leave He had to be crucified outside of Jerusalem,
outside the gate. He had to be excommunicated.
He had to be treated as a criminal. Treated as an opposer to the
Jews' religion. And so, treated as a criminal
of God. Treated as someone God would
be afflicting because of sin. Treated by men as a common criminal. More than that. Their opposition
to Christ was more than just as a criminal. They hated him
with the deepest kind of hatred. The deepest kind of hatred. Look
at this. He says, Let us go forth, therefore,
unto him without the camp. What is the camp? Well, in the
days of the Jews, the camp was the established religion of the
Jews. It was their service of sacrifices. It was all the ministry
of the tabernacle. It was all of their law-keeping.
But they trusted in their law-keeping. God says to them in Isaiah chapter
1 verses 6 through 9 He says to the nation of the Jews who
did all these things trusting in their righteousness that spiritually
they were perverse more perverse than Sodom and Gomorrah and And
you can read about it in Isaiah 1. And in fact, he compares the
same thing in Revelation. He says that Jerusalem, spiritually,
which is Sodom in Egypt. And here he says, we have to
go outside the camp. Outside of that commonly held,
commonly taught religion that says that man's work, man's will,
man's decision, anything in us, man's experience, something from
us, added to, alongside of perhaps, Who could argue that the law
of God is right? The law of God is good, but it
was never meant to justify a man. And who can argue that being
born again is how we enter the kingdom of God? But it's not
being born again that pays for our sins. It's Christ who laid
his life down and established righteousness for us. Our birth
of God is the consequence of Christ's work for us. Our faith
holds to Christ. And holding to Christ is the
evidence of our being born again. The preaching of Christ is the
way God births us into His kingdom. And so we go forth outside the
camp. We hold to Christ alone in everything in our salvation. And guess what that does? Men
can't stand it. They rise up in the highest degree
of hatred, and they persecute. And they persecute the truth.
And Jesus says this in John 15. He says this, and you can read
this in your own time, but I'll just read it to you. He says, I henceforth call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called
you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have
made known to you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit,
and that your fruit should remain." And then he goes on, he says,
If the world hate you, verse 18, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you are not of the
world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. He's talking about the world.
What world is he talking about? The world of organized religion. Because that's where the world...
What did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get cast into the burning
fiery furnace? For? For not bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar's
idol. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.
Babylon is the place that was the city out of Babel. Babel
was confusion. The place where men tried to
raise a tower to get to God by their own works. And it's all
the way through the book of Revelation. God is going to destroy it. God's
people are going to be afflicted. But in the end, we're more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. You see, out of all the sufferings
and persecutions, God is going to make known His glory. He's
going to save His people out of their weakness, by His grace.
He's going to show Himself strong to those who trust in Him, who
call upon His name. And He's going to do it for the
sake of His name. But He's going to do it so that
we come to Him through Christ alone. Strip us of everything
we trust in so that we see Christ alone and that's all all to us
all of our hope all of our glory and Heaven will be sweeter and
Christ will be nearer and we will be conformed to his image
Everything will be stripped away from us through the process of
this suffering and persecution and affliction And I pause here because The things we're talking about
here aren't just make-believe things. Have you ever felt isolated
because you held to the gospel? Have you ever felt like you were
the only one? That maybe your own family had
written you off? That friends no longer had anything
in common and they separated from you or you separated from
them over time? And it seems like you're left
alone. And that isolation, that being separated, is part of that. And have you ever felt like that
people would speak against the gospel that you consider all
your life, in your hope of eternity, in everything? And they speak
against it, and what about this, and what about that? And they
talk about insignificant things. And all these things are a pain,
they're a trial. And it gets worse, it goes on
all the way to death. May God give us grace to gladly
suffer for Christ's sake. May he allow us to be like Paul. I'm not afraid to be bound, I'm
not afraid even to die for the sake of the gospel that I might
finish my course. That the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ might be magnified. I would gladly suffer for his
sake. May God give us that grace. because that is his will for
his people, to make himself strong on their behalf, to bring us
to glory, to make this world grow dim and make Christ grow
dear and heaven seem like the only place we want to be. That's
why in the church, there's great comfort, isn't there? Because
in the church of God, we're with people who believe in the deepest
recesses of their conscience and heart and mind and hold dear
the same things God has taught us. It's the only place of safety
where you can disclose everything in your heart that you trust
in and be received. And someone else says, yes, the
same grace that saved you is the way God saved me. The same
struggles that you struggle with over this truth of how God saves
us by his grace. That's the same way that God
has dealt with me. When we're in glory and we're
going to be together, we're going to be with Shadrach and Meshach
and Abednego And we'll be able to ask them, what was it like?
there in the burning fiery furnace walking not even a hair singed
or your clothes smelling like fire with the Son of God and
Nebuchadnezzar out there shielding his face and yelling come on
out you servants of the Most High God and saying everyone
don't speak anything against their God and every knee shall
bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God and we're sitting with the King of glory the captain of
our salvation, the one who was spit upon and blood pouring off
his body and the thief on the cross looking at him and saying,
Lord, when you come into your kingdom, remember me. That's
what we, that's the grace we want. Lord, help us to see that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us. These things
almost seem like academic knowledge at times until that inner struggle
and the outer difficulties of life and all the things that
come upon us. We see loved ones who seem to
be unmoved by the gospel. We see our own hearts. cold to
the gospel preaching. And we wonder, Lord, this is
the day of trouble. Deliver me, glorify yourself.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that as you've
promised in your word in Romans 8 and so many other places, nothing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us count everything. all
of our suffering to be an honor we're not worthy to bear to suffer
for Christ's sake. Lord, let's not, help us not
to make suffering another thing that we can boast in, that we
suffered a little or we struggled with this, but that we would
always see the suffering as stripping us of everything we are and pointing
to Christ alone. Help us to point sinners to Christ.
Point our own hearts to Him, Lord, for Your name's sake, for
His sake we pray. Amen.