I invite you this evening to
turn with me to John chapter 9 and verse 1. John chapter 9
and verse 1. One of my favorite portions of
God's Word. Now in John chapter 9 and verse
1, the scripture says, And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man
which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him,
saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that
he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath
this man sin, nor his parents, but that the words of God should
be made manifest to him. I must work the works of him
that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world. Then he hath thus spoken. He
spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and he anointed
the eyes of the blind man with clay, and said unto him, go,
wash in the pool of Siloam, which is, by interpretation, sin. He went his way, therefore, and
washed, and came seeing. The neighbors, therefore, and
they which before had seen him, that he
was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he. Others
said, He is like him. But he said, I am he. Therefore said they unto him,
How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, a man that
is called Jesus made play and anointed my eyes and said unto me, go to the pool of Siloam
and wash. And I went and washed and I received
sight. Reading this afternoon, John
chapter nine, starting with verse 1 down to verse 11. I decided
to speak on a subject today that we all are well aware of. In our scripture reading we find
our Lord coming. It says, and the Lord passed
by. Many times in the scripture it'll
use terminology like that, and the Lord The Lord never just
passed by for any particular reason just passing by the Lord
passed by for a particular reason in order to show the glory and
the majesty of Almighty God and to display the power that was
in his hand a power to raise men up and to bring salvation
to souls and and to give them light and in this case sight. This morning I want to speak
on what had happened in the life of this man. I want to speak
to you on the subject of suffering. This morning the Bible tells
us in Revelation 21 verse 4 that there is coming a day when all
sorrows and tears and pain and death will pass away. There's
coming a wonderful day when God will wipe away all tears from
our eyes of the children, of his children, and our sorrows
will end forever. There is a great day coming when
those who are washed in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ through
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, will rejoice in a time when sorrow
will be no more. I know of hardly anyone today
that is not suffering from some type of an ailment, some type
of affliction. And it brings me to the question
of the afternoon. If God is a loving father, one
who watches over and cares for his own, why does God allow his
people to suffer? This is a question that if you
have not pondered it, you will soon. Because it comes a time
in your own personal life that our health and strength is beginning
to fade away. Our sight has been gone for some
time now. And now the rest of us is there
to follow. And the question may come to
you even in this hour. Why? Why does God put me through
this suffering and turmoil in this life? Why would he allow
my health to fade? Why would he allow me to sit
even in agony, even in the house of God, while I come to hear
his word preached? Have you ever thought about that?
Have you given consideration? the intentions and the purpose
of God in allowing you not the world this morning but you to
suffer in your own state your physical state this morning the
beginning of our sorrows the beginning of our sorrow our suffering
began many days and years ago if it wasn't for our the fall
of Adam in the garden. This morning there would not
be a knee that would not work without, would run and jump and
leap. We would not, we'd never have
a back that would snap and We would never have a neck that
would give us problems. We'd never have an arm that we
could not extend in every direction. Every problem that you have in
this life, in this very moment, has to do with what took place
in the Garden of Eden. When Adam turned and sinned against
God, all of our sorrows and sufferings was to follow thereafter. It was the beginning of suffering
and our sorrows. We find that in Genesis 3, verses
6 and 7, that God revealed to Adam and Eve the consequences
of their sin. we find that in Romans 3 6 in
verse 23 for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord we suffer and
die because of our sin not because of something our parents did
as was mentioned in our scripture this afternoon but we suffer
in this life because of our own sin. Romans 5 in verse 12 says,
Wherefore, as one man's sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. We read in Romans 3 in verse
23 that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God uses suffering. He uses suffering to bring our
hearts and minds to focus upon Him. There are many illustrations
throughout the scripture where God uses our sorrows and our
sufferings for his own glory. And again, I remind you of our
text today for the glory of God, for the glory of God. A man was
born blind that God may show his glory, that God may show
his power, that he might demonstrate his ability as the son the living
God what God does what does God accomplish by allowing us to
suffer is the question very simply again for the glory of God God
is teaching his people the truth about man and our inability to
save ourselves This world is crumbling under our feet. But
not only our world in itself, even mankind is crumbling under
our feet. Every once in a while, I take
a few minutes and I begin to think, you know, the things that
I would do a year ago or five years ago generally is impossible
to do. today. As we get older, our life
becomes slower and insecure. It should bring to mind to every
child of God that we are getting weaker and weaker as a people,
not stronger and stronger as the religionists would tell us
today, that we should be coming to higher, greater and higher
heights for God and this world. And God wants you to do this
and God wants you to do that. But the The real truth of the
matter is that we are, as a people, crumbling physically. As a nation,
this nation is also crumbling. If everything was alright, if
sin was not in this world, there would be no sorrow, there would
be no death. But from the very beginning,
from the garden, it has been so. It is because of our sin. God is showing us every day of
our life that man has been separated from him because of sin and man's
eternal destiny. God doesn't enjoy seeing anyone
suffer, but he does allow people to suffer for various reasons. Sometimes God allows tragedy
in the life in order for people to come to salvation, to see
his saving grace. I think of in Matthew 8 verse
2. The leper came to Jesus and he
touched him and he became whole. The Lord used this suffering
of this man in being a leper to show his greatness and to
display his power to heal and to say, look at Luke chapter
18 in verse 35 when that man said, and one of my other favorite
passages, thou son of David have mercy on me. Again, it was a healing. It was a physical problem. It was suffering. It was torment
that our Lord used to bring the light, the glory of Almighty
God. 2 Kings 5 tells us of Naaman,
the Syrian captain who had leprosy. His suffering was used to bring
this man to a place of calling upon God. The Bible is filled
with cases where God uses people through suffering.
Another great example is Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar didn't fear God
until God humbled him, made him lay on his stomach, on his knees,
act like an animal in the field for seven years before he was
able to see God in the light of the grace of God in Daniel
chapter 4 verse 30 and following. Sometimes he will even use the
tragedy of others to bring those people to Christ. For the glory
of Almighty God we see these things. Some Christians suffer
because of chastisement of God. We don't generally like to talk
about the chastisement of God. When we're talking about the
chastisement of God We're generally not talking about our neighbor.
We're generally thinking about our own self. But this is something
that God uses so often to bring us to the light of coming into
a relationship, a better relationship to Almighty God. Revelations
3, verse 19 says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. When God speaks to his people,
and as the scripture teaches us, God is constantly working
with his people and those who he does not chasten, he does
not love. So when we come under the chastening
of God, it should bring us to the knowledge that we are loved,
that God does care for us, and he does woo us into the grace
of almighty God. We find in 1st John verses 1
through 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Some Christians suffer for the
Lord Jesus Christ. 2nd Timothy 3 verse 12 says,
ye and all that will give godly to Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution." We think so often that was Paul, that was the disciples,
but all those who take up the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
will suffer persecution. Where will I suffer persecution? You will probably suffer persecution,
first of all, in your own home. when we take up the real cross
for our Lord Jesus Christ. When we take up the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, where we were, you'll find you'll suffer
persecution there too. In 2 Timothy 2 verse 12, if we
suffer, we shall also reign with him. Jesus says, if any man will
come after me, let him deny himself and take up the cross daily.
and follow me." When a Christian chooses to deny himself and follow
Christ, he chooses to suffer with our Lord. The world has
always found a way to persecute God's people. We hear the word
persecute Christians in the news today. Wherever the gospel of
Jesus Christ is preached, with power, those people will receive
persecution because it is what the scripture teaches. The scripture
teaches us that this will happen. Acts 5 and verse 41, the apostles
rejoice that they would be, that they would suffer persecution,
that they were worthy to suffer for our Lord's sake. And then,
of course, in 1 Peter 2 and verse 19 tells us that it is our duty
to follow our Lord in our suffering. In 1 Peter 4 and verse 12, the
scripture tells us that we should be happy in suffering for Christ. Suffering is something that we
think of so often. It's just pain in itself. But
pain in itself won't teach us a lot. But if we relate to what
is happening in our own life, there is a purpose, there is
a reason for our suffering. And if we can suffer with and
in our Lord Jesus Christ, we will find great comfort in doing
so. Romans 8 in verse 18 says, For
I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Our suffering is not of no value. Our suffering is bringing us
closer to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Even in the hour
of our greatest problems, it is a time that we can find solace,
we can find comfort, we can find that relationship with God that
we might not be able to find in any other way. I'm sure that
you may think well with me I'd rather not suffer. I had rather
not have any pain whatsoever. But it is unrealistic to think
that even as children of God, that we would live our life and
end our life without suffering. God teaches us valuable lessons
through suffering. One lesson that he will teach
us in our suffering is humility. If we believe some of the popular
faith healers of today, this is not necessary. It is not necessary
for us to ever be in a position of suffering. That we should
live in such a way, in such a higher plane, that we will miss all
of the discomfort and that we will just glory ourselves all
the way to heaven's gate. That's not the way that God has
prepared for our arrival into heaven. We will arrive through
suffering and pain and sorrow, because none of us can escape
the effects of the fall of our father Adam. Why? He tells us
why in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7. And thus I should be exalted
Paul speaks to us and he had a particular problem and God
made it so that he would not pass without his suffering too
and it says in 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 12 unless I should be
exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh a message of Satan
to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure." We would
think that the Apostle Paul, a person of great faith and grace
and mercy with Almighty God, would escape the place of life
where he would have to personally suffer because of the cause of
Christ, because of his sin. But it's not so. the most righteous
before our Heavenly Father and the one who has the most grace
of our Heavenly Father will yet suffer in this life. He will have the same sorrows
and pains that even the unrighteous will have. He will have them
too. It is a part of our life. Sometimes
God sees the need to put us through something for the purpose of
making us stronger. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2
in verse 3, to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In the years past, I've thought
of families, families of faith. families that we went to church
with for years and years and years, who seem to have a real
grasp upon living for Almighty God. But yet, within that family,
we find great difficulty. Sickness maybe plagues the entire
family. Children in and out of hospitals
suffering And this is what the norm is with this particular
family. And we ask, why? Well, God uses
our suffering to make us what we are not in ourselves. He'll use suffering to bring
us to our knees, to approach God, to have more and more faith
and have more trust in Him. God will also use suffering to
teach us patience. Romans 5 and verse 3 tells us,
tribulation worketh patience. Now again, for myself, I'd like
to pass on the tribulation. Maybe you'd like that too. But tribulation, according to
the word of God, causes us to have more patience, more patience
in preparing us for the next trial within our life. For myself,
I'm not ready for the next trial. I'd like to miss the next trial,
but it's not for me to say what life will render to me in the
days to come. I remember, it seems like only
a short period of time, I didn't have a pain in the world and
all of a sudden there's all kinds of pain. All that we suffer in
this life, all those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ will
suffer and will be brought to trust more and more and our Lord
Jesus Christ. God will also use suffering to
teach us great patience through tribulation. Some people suffer
so that they will be able to be equipped to comfort others. At this point, I'd like to stop
for a moment. If you have never suffered, how
will you be able to render a service to a brother or a sister who's
gone through some difficult matter. If you have had cancer and you
know of someone that's going through cancer, when you put
your hand on their shoulder, that hand will mean a thousand
hands of one who knows nothing what they're going through. I'd
like to step out of the high ground this morning and step
into the trench where life really is. Today, the greatest comfort
that you can be, the greatest preacher that you can be today
is to be a comfort to another brother or sister who is in trouble,
who needs the comfort and the encouragement of another brother
that will come and do more than lay a hand on his shoulder and
tell them My prayers are with you in this hour. When you go
to a person's bedside and that person is about to die, what
is your message? Do you have a message?