I have a message this evening
that I trust will be a blessing and very instructive and comforting
to us. The title of the message is Comforting
Instructions for Suffering Saints. 1 Peter chapter 3, where Brother
Eric read for us a little bit ago, verse 8 is what we'll pick
up. If you remember this epistle of Peter. is written to suffering
saints. Peter writes this epistle to
believers who are scattered throughout the world because of persecution.
Now, you know, in this life, everyone's going to suffer. Everybody
will. Believer and unbeliever alike,
everyone suffers because sin's in the world. All suffering that's
in this world is because of sin. But God in his compassion has
given his people comforting instructions for suffering saints. What should
our attitude be when we suffer? When the time comes for me to
suffer, what should my attitude be? When the time comes for my
brothers and sisters to suffer, what should my attitude be? A
couple of weeks ago, we looked at marriage. We saw that the
key to a happy marriage is likewise. Well, Peter is still operating
in this same thought. The key is still likewise, like
our Lord Jesus Christ, by looking to Christ. And he begins verse
8 by saying, finally, be ye all of one mind. Now, we all have
different cultures and backgrounds and family traditions and things,
but believers have the same mind in the gospel. We have one doctrine. We are all one. Every believer
is one in the doctrine of how God saves sinners. Because there's
just one Savior. I don't care where you go. When
you find a believer, we're one in this matter of how God saves
sinners. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. So we're of one mind. Every believer
agrees in that doctrine. There's no debate, no question
about it. To have one mind means that we all seek the same things.
We seek God's will. In God's way, in everything,
we seek things that will glorify God and not glorify our flesh. And that attitude will help us
when our brothers and sisters suffer. It will help us when
we suffer. You want to know what Peter's
talking about here, this one mind. What is this one mind he's
talking about? How do I have this one mind?
Well, look in Philippians chapter two. This one mind that Peter
is talking about here. is the one mind of Christ. In
Philippians 2, verse 2, Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind. And here is the mind. Let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." Let this mind be
in you, this one mind. When it comes time for us to
suffer, suffer obediently as our Savior suffered. Suffer patiently
as our Savior suffered. Suffer, casting all of our care
upon him who cares for us, who gave his life to redeem us from
sin. Be willing to suffer a little
wrong for the good of your brethren. Just like our Lord suffered for
our sin. So have one mind. Then Peter says, have compassion,
one of another. Have compassion on your brothers
and sisters who are suffering. The word compassion that Peter
uses here means sympathetic. Have sympathy, have some empathy
for your brethren who are suffering. Don't criticize them. Criticizing
never helped ease any suffering. Maybe they did do something wrong,
but criticizing them is not going to help them in this time of
suffering. Have sympathy and empathy on
our brethren and have compassion. Likewise, I want you to look
at Mark chapter one. Here is a striking example of
compassion that we would all do well to follow. Mark 1, verse 40. And there came a leper to him,
beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto
him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Can you imagine
this man? Matthew says he's full of leprosy. You couldn't put your finger
on a spot of healthy skin. He's full of leprosy. extremities and probably starting
to fall off. I mean, this man is grotesque.
He stinks. What a horrible looking sight. And the Lord Jesus moved with
compassion. Put forth his hand and touched
him and saith unto him, I will be thou clean. And as soon as
he had spoken immediately, the leprosy departed from him and
he was cleansed. Now, you and I can't cleanse
a sickness of our brethren. But you can reach out in compassion
and touch them. Don't say, that's disgusting,
I can't touch that. Aren't you glad God didn't say
that about you? Our Lord was moved with compassion and he
did something about it. He reached out and touched him. Oh, the touch of the compassionate
Savior. Let's have compassion on our
brothers and sisters who are in a time of suffering. Then
Peter says, love is brethren. Now love others like you love
your family. You all know how you love your
family. No matter what they do, you're still going to love them.
They're your family. Other people might write them
off, but you won't. You love them. They're your family.
Love these folks that same way. Don't be quick to write them
off. Love them. Love them. Isn't that how our
Lord loves His people? He loves us unconditionally.
We didn't meet any condition to make Him love us. He loves
us unconditionally. There's no reason for God to
love us. Not if found in ourselves. Just
out of His sovereign will, He decided to set His love upon
us. He loves without hypocrisy. And our Savior didn't just love
in word only. He didn't say, I love you and
turn around and walk away. He put that love into action
and gave Himself a sacrifice for our sin. Love is brethren. Do that for each other. And you'll
bear the burdens and the weaknesses of people when you love them.
I know when our girls were little, they weren't potty trained. I
still loved them. They couldn't walk. They couldn't
talk right. I still loved them. You bear
the burdens and weaknesses of people that you love. Matter
of fact, you kind of think it's cute if you really love them.
Well, bear one another's burdens. Likewise, like Christ bore our
burden. And build each other up. Look
for ways to encourage one another. Pray for one another because
you love them. And show them that love. Don't just sit at
home and think about them. Send them a card. Call them.
Go see them. You'd be shocked how just the
smallest sign of compassion and love, what a difference it makes
to someone who's really going through it. Love is brethren.
Then Peter says, be pitiful. Now, pity is not a popular, I
don't know if you call that emotion or attitude. It's not popular. in our pride-filled day. People
say, I don't want your pity. I do. I'm pitiful. Sin has made me pitiful. I need pity. The word that Peter
uses here means tender-hearted with strong bowels for it. A strong yearning of love and
compassion. Look at Ezekiel chapter 16. Will
pity, will that help somebody in a time of suffering? You know,
people say, I don't want your pity. Well, would it do them
some good? In a time of suffering, will
pity do somebody some good? Look here in Ezekiel 16, verse
3. And say, Thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy
mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, and
the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither
was thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at
all, or swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee." Can't
we just say, well, I want your pity. All right, well, none eye
pitied thee. Look at the mess we're in. None eye pitied thee.
To do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee.
But thou wast cast out into the open field to the loathing of
thy person in the day that thou wast born. Thank God he had pity
on his people. Look at verse 6. Oh, and when
I passed by, when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in
thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in my blood,
live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in my blood, live. Look at verse 8. Now when I passed
by thee and looked upon thee, behold thy time was a time of
love. It was a time of pity and love. and I spread my skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine." That pity relieves suffering. Oh, be pitiful. Aren't you thankful
for the pity of God towards sinners? Be pitiful. And last, in verse
8, Peter says, be courteous. That word courteous means well-mannered.
and considerate of others. John Hill says this is being
gentle. Be a gentleman. Now, I'm telling
you, this is lacking in society today. Good manners and being
a gentleman is lacking in society. That attitude ought to be well
known amongst this family. Be courteous. Don't be rude to
one another. Be courteous to one another.
I'm telling you, it will relieve suffering, yours and theirs,
too. Verse 9, Peter says, not rendering
evil for evil, or railing for railing. When you suffer verbal
abuse, that's tough to take, isn't it? I mean, that's tough
to take. Peter says, be forgiving. As
God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you, do likewise. Like our Savior, look back in
chapter 2 verse 23. How did our Savior conduct himself
in a time when he was rendered evil for evil and railing for
railing? Verse 23 says, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. Look at Luke chapter 6. But I say unto you which hear,
Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them
that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also
the other. And him that taketh away thy
cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man
that asketh of thee. And if him that taketh away thy
goods, ask them not again. And as thou would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. And if ye love them
which love you, what thanks have ye? What grace have ye if ye
love them that love you? For sinners also love those that
love them. And if ye do good to them which
do good to you, what thanks have ye? What grace is there in that?
For sinners also do the same. And if ye lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what thank have you, what graces they are
met? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again.
But love you your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for
nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall
be the children of the highest. For he is kind unto the unthankful
and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as
your Father also is merciful." Aren't you thankful he is kind
to the unthankful and to the evil? That's the only way you
and I received any kindness is if he was kind to the unthankful
and to the evil. Well, then do likewise. And Peter
says, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing,
but contrary wise, contrary wise, if you want to know the right
attitude to have in suffering, The right attitude really about
anything. Just do contrary wise. Do contrary
to what's in your flesh. Do contrary to the nature of
Adam and do likewise. Do like the nature of Christ. Peter says contrary wise blessing. We just read our Lord saying
in Luke 6, bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully
use you. Now, that's contrary wise to
human nature. It just is. You just. Prayer
for your enemy is going to roll off your tongue. Now, you have
to admit that you've got to think to do that because it's contrary
wise. But, you know, by God's grace,
it can be done. Look at Acts chapter seven. By God's grace,
this can be done. And Acts chapter seven. And they fell on Stephen, calling
upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled
down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep." Can you imagine praying for the men who are stoning
you to take your life? That's God's grace. And how did
Stephen do that? By grace. Stephen followed our
Lord's example. What did he pray as he was suffering?
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Contrary
wise blessing. Then the rest of verse 9, Peter
says, Knowing that you are there unto called, that you should
inherit a blessing. When you suffer, be thankful. Because you know this, every
child of God is called to suffer. Now you say, wait a minute, wait
a minute. That's not what I signed up for.
I signed up for eternal life. I signed up for peace. I signed
up to inherit a blessing. Well, you have that too. But
a believer is called to suffer, not to a bed of roses, but to
suffer, just like our Lord. He is a man well acquainted with
grief and suffering. Matthew Henry said this, this
is good. A Christian's calling invests him with glorious privileges,
but it also obligates him to difficult duties. Now that's
just difficult, to be thankful. when you suffer. It's difficult
to pray for your enemies and to love your enemies. But the
key, remember, is likewise. God blesses those who curse him
every day. God sends the sun. He sends the
rain on their crops. He sends them food to eat and
money to have to spend on the necessities of this life. And
you know what? He even saved some of them. The
unworthy ones, He saves by His grace. All of y'all here are
witnesses to this. God blesses those who at one
time cursed Him. Aren't you thankful? Then we
should do the same. Likewise, following His example,
following His steps. And that's a comfort in suffering.
Following His steps. When you're in a time of suffering,
remember this. You're following in your Savior's
steps. There's not one thing you ever
suffer. Our Savior hasn't already suffered. When He puts the sheep out, what
does He say? The Good Shepherd goes before
them. He doesn't send the sheep out. He follows them. The Good
Shepherd goes before them and the sheep follow Him. Every step
they take is already a path the Savior's taken. Every step we
take in suffering, the Savior has already suffered. He's already
taken every step we take, so he knows how to comfort in times
of sorrow. He knows how to safely lead us
through the minefield of suffering and sorrow. We're following his
steps. In verse 10, Peter says, ìFor
he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.î Now
this does apply to the natural life, to a point. This applies
to your natural life. If you'd like to see good days,
there are some things you can do so you can have some good
days. But it applies even more so to spiritual life. Just to
a point it applies to natural life. If you look over in Ecclesiastes
chapter 12, if I had a dollar for every time
Jim Meadows quoted this verse to me, In the last years of his
life, I can take Janet out someplace real nice. Jim quoted this verse
to me a lot, warning me about the days that are coming. He
says, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say, I have no pleasure in them. If you live long enough in this
life, those days are all going to turn to evil days. It's the
way of the flesh, the sin that's in this flesh. But if you'd like
to have peaceful days on earth, now I warn you, they're hard
to come by. They really are. But if you'd
like some peaceful days on this earth, the key is likewise. Conducting yourself according
to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no guile in
our Lord's mouth, then don't let there be any in yours. Nothing
will destroy peace more quickly than guile and being two-faced. Nothing will. Charles Spurgeon
said this. This is good advice. Say to a
man's face all that you'll say behind his back. You'll soon
be in trouble if you have two tales to tell. One in his presence
and the other in his absence. That's pretty good advice. Just
be careful what you say about somebody now because you can't
take it back. And you kids on social media,
buddy, it's out there for eternity if you put it out there on the
social media somewhere, you'll never be able to take it back.
So just don't do it. The tongue is such a dangerous,
dangerous thing. And learning to govern your tongue
will go a long, long way toward giving you peaceable days in
this life. I'm telling you the truth. But
now this instruction applies even more to spiritual life and
comfort in times of trouble. Do you desire eternal life? Then
seek Christ, who is life. You'll have good days untold
if you have Him. Because knowing Him is eternal
life. Salvation in Christ is found through the preaching of
the truth. The truth of who Christ is. There's no guile in preaching
that's going to save a sinner. Salvation comes through the preaching
of the truth. And by God's grace, we preach
Christ the truth. Now, that truth will offend the
flesh, but I'm telling you it'll give you eternal life. And it will comfort your soul
in times of suffering and sorrow. If you want eternal life, refrain
your tongue and refrain your ears from an evil gospel that
promises salvation through your doing. That's an evil gospel. It's a gospel that's full of
guile. That gospel, so-called gospel, that promises you eternal
life through what you do is promising you something you can never obtain. That's lying to people. It's
wicked. And it will never, ever, God will never honor that and
grant eternal life or the new birth through that kind of preaching.
Guile. Preaching of guile. And a false
gospel like that will never comfort you. You know, people cry, peace,
peace. Well, there's no peace, but now there's no comfort in
it. And there's no comfort for anyone else who's suffering,
you or anybody else. A false gospel that's full of
guile is yea and nay preaching. And you'll never find comfort
in that yea and nay preaching. Yea and nay preaching is this.
Christ died for everyone, if you'll just accept him. Christ
died for everyone. Yet some people are going to go to hell anyway.
That's yay and nay, isn't it? Yay and nay preaching is God
loves you and so do I. But God will still throw you
into hell because he didn't love you enough to give you faith
in his son and then I'll talk bad about you behind your back.
That's yay and nay preaching. Yay and nay preaching is, now
God's sovereign, but he won't cross your will and you could
go to hell anyway, even though God's sovereign. It's God's will
to save you, but you still go to hell because this so-called
sovereign cannot cross your depraved will. Now, that may appeal to
the flesh, but there's no life in it, and there's no comfort
for suffering saints there. That's yea and nay preaching,
and let it never be found in our lips, ever. There's no comfort
in that. There's no life for dead sinners
in that. But comfort. is found in preaching
that's yea and yea. As Brother Tom Harding preached
here at the conference, it's yea and amen. Look at Romans
chapter 3. I'll just give you a few examples
of this, but I think this will be a blessing to you. Comfort
for suffering saints is found in preaching that's yea and amen. Yea and yea. Romans 3 verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now there's the truth. There's
the truth of our depraved nature. All of sin becomes sure of the
glory of God. Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remissions of sins that are
past. Not your righteousness, not your doing. Declare His righteousness
through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus." Now, that's comfort. That's yea
and yea preaching. There's comfort to a suffering
saint in that. Look across to page chapter 4,
verse 23. Well, look at verse 21. "...being fully
persuaded that what he had promised he was also able to perform."
Therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was
not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification." Now,
buddy, there's comfort in that. There's no doubt there's comfort
and life for a suffering saint in that. Look over a few pages
of Romans 8, verse 38. Here's yea and yea
preaching. For I'm persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature that cover all your suffering, I'm persuaded. None of that stuff. shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. That's yea and amen. That's life
and comfort for suffering saints in that. Try this one on. He only is my rock. I shall not be moved. Now, you may be shaken, but you
won't be moved. You won't lose your salvation
in Christ because that salvation is based entirely on the doing
and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, not on anything you do
or don't do. Now, that's comforting. That's
life and that's comfort. The Lord's my shepherd. I shall
not want. And I'm going to go through a
time of suffering. I'll go through the valley of the shadow of death,
but I shall not want. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
I'm one dumb sheep. But I shall not want for any
good, Think good, I shall not want for eternal life. For this
reason, the Lord Jesus Christ is my shepherd." Now that's yea
and yea preaching. You take that home with you.
It'll comfort a suffering saint. Look at verse 11 back in our
text, 1 Peter 3. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue
it. Now here's good instruction for how to get through this pilgrimage
here below. Eschew evil. Avoid evil. Just turn out of the way of it.
Just go out of your way to avoid evil. Go out of your way to avoid
even the appearance of evil. One writer said this, embrace
peace when it's offered and pursue peace when it's denied. Seek
peace and ensue it. Work at it. The word means to
pursue. This word ensue means to pursue
and run after like you're in a race toward the finish line.
to press on, Isaac started running cross-country. I think at almost
every point in a long-distance race, you get to this point.
You have to decide, am I going to quit and take it easy, or
am I going to push myself? You've got to decide that at
some point in every race. The same thing applies to this
matter of peace. People will make it difficult.
I mean, they can make it tough. And you've got to decide, am
I going to quit and take it easy or am I going to pursue it? Am
I going to push on, press on? I guess it depends on how important
peace is to you. But this word also means this,
to be mistreated and suffer persecution in order to have it. That's what
we do to pursue peace. Don't just talk about it now.
Do it. Pursue it. Now a person who holds
a grudge, they won't seek peace. They won't pursue it. They never
have anything nice to say about other people. When they do talk
about them, they either tell a lie or they tell the negative.
That person is not a happy person. I don't care how many days they
have on this earth. They're not having good days.
They're having miserable days. If you want good days, seek peace. Don't hold a grudge. Seek peace.
But now the best application here is spiritual truth. Seeking
spiritual peace. If you want eternal life, you
want peace? Seek Christ, who is our peace.
And seek Him with everything you've got. And don't quit until
you find Him. Press on until you lay hold upon
Him. And when you suffer, don't be
discouraged when you suffer wrongfully. The Lord knows what's going on.
Look at verse 12. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. You know,
people say, I'd like to give them a piece of my mind. My dad
always said, be careful. You need all that mind you can
get. Don't be giving away too many pieces of it. People say,
I'd like to give them an earful. They don't care. Jan tells me
all the time, they don't care. She says, Pearls for swine. Pearls
for swine. They don't care. Their ears are
not open to your cry. They don't care. But now listen
to me. The Lord does. His ears are open. Rather than give your enemies
an earful, cry to the Lord. He'll hear you. He cares. His
eye of love is upon His people. His eye of care. His sovereign
eye. is on his people. It's no accident
that suffering has come upon you. None of it can hurt you. And his sovereign power will
see to it, and he'll see you through it. The scripture says
the Lord's ears are open to the prayers of the righteous. Are
you suffering? Then pray. The Lord will hear you. His ear
is not heavy that it cannot hear. Are your brothers and sisters
suffering? Pray for them. Pray for them. Pray for them
because you love them and pray for them because the Lord's only
wanting to help them. Pray for them. And even pray for your enemies. Now, it's easy to pray for Judy.
She's laying up there in the hospital. It's easy to pray for
Aaron. He's laying down there in pain, recovering from his
surgery. It's easy for me to pray for them. Praying for your enemies is a
different matter. Now, I mean, this is a different matter. I want
you to listen to this. Bruce Crabtree made this statement.
Bruce is a genius. Listen to this. He says, love
your enemies and pray for them. Don't be mean to them, Bruce
said. They've got enough trouble as it is. I never would have
thought that only Bruce would say this. Don't be mean to them.
They've got enough trouble as it is. The Lord's face is against
them. Brother, they've got troubles.
Isn't that good? They've got troubles. Pray for
them. They need it. The Lord's face
is against him. Rather than find some satisfaction
in hurting your enemies, find comfort in the fact you're a
child of God. Your enemies are His enemies.
You don't have to worry about them for long. He'll take care
of it. Verse 13, And who is he that will harm you, if ye be
followers of that which is good? Anybody here suffered for doing
the right thing? Probably not. I mean, that is
a very, very, very rare thing. You suffer for doing the right
thing. Most everybody will respect you for doing the right thing.
Your boss will never be mad at you if you show up for work early
and do a good job all day long. He won't be mad at you. Be courteous
to people. Nobody will be mad at you for
holding the door for them. If they drop a bag, you know,
groceries, helping them pick it up. Nobody will be mad at
you for being courteous. Almost no one. Almost no one. I lost a job one time because
I refused to lie to a vendor in the negotiations we had on
this contract, and I refused to lie to him. My boss appreciated
honesty until he thought it was going to cost him a dollar. That
may not always be the case in the flesh. Somebody will respect
you for doing the right thing. The martyrs knew about that,
didn't they? Look at verse 14. And if ye suffer for righteousness'
sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither
be troubled." Now here's something that's contrary-wise to the flesh. If you suffer for righteousness'
sake, you're happy. Not that you should be happy. Not that you ought to try to
be happy. You are happy. If you look back in Acts chapter
5, Peter knew what he was talking about here. Here they had taken Peter and
some of the disciples. In verse 38, Gamaliel is giving
some advice here about how to handle these men. He says, Now
I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone.
For if this counsel or if this work be of men, it will come
to naught. But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest
haply you be found even to fight against God. Now to him they
all agreed. They agreed, but just refrained
from it, let them alone. Well, then they called the apostles
and they had beaten them. They commanded that they should
not speak in the name of Jesus, and then they let them go. And
they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. The key is
likewise. Didn't our Lord suffer for our
sins? Well, shouldn't we be happy to suffer Very, very, very little
that we're ever called upon to suffer for his sake after all
he's done for us. And here's something in closing
that will help you in times of suffering. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Don't fear God. He will never harm those that
he loves. Don't fear Christ. He's not going
to harm you. He came to save you, and when
you see him again, he's come to take you to be with him where
he is. He's not going to harm you. Don't fear Satan. He's on God's leash. His roar
will scare you half to death, but he's on God's leash. Greater
is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Don't fear Satan.
Don't fear the law. Christ is the end of the law
to everyone who believes. Don't fear your sin. Now, we
ought not do it. We're ashamed of it, but don't
fear it. Christ was made to be sin for you. His blood paid for
all of your sin. Where sin did abound, God's grace
did much more abound. See, there's nothing for a believer
to fear. And Peter says, be not afraid of their terror. Don't
be afraid of the same things they're afraid of. Don't be terrorized
about what you think they can do to you. The worst thing they
could ever do to you is send you to be with the Lord sooner
than what you might expect. That's the worst thing they can
do to you. Now I'll grant you, I'm a big
chicken. I don't want to suffer. I don't want any part of it.
I don't like it. I just don't want to suffer. But think about
this. We've had loved ones, believers,
who suffered for a time. Some of them terrible suffering.
And now they're with the Lord. And here you sit. Would you trade in places? Would
you trade in places? That little bit of suffering
they went through brought them where you wish you were. Would
you trade in places? You would. They wouldn't. But
you would. So don't be afraid of it. The
worst they can do is send you to be with the Lord, which is
where you want to go anyway. So don't be afraid of it. Don't
be afraid. Comforting instructions. All
right, let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank Thee
for Your Word. And how we thank Thee for Your
compassion on sinners such as we are. Compassion on the unthankful. Oh, we're so ungrateful. We thank
You that You're kind, that You're merciful, that You're gracious
anyway. that your mercy is sovereign
mercy, not because we met any condition, but of thy free will,
thy sovereign will. And Father, how we pray that
you would give us grace. Oh, you've blessed us so abundantly
in the past. How richly that you've blessed
your people. And as we go through this valley
of the shadow of death, We go through times of suffering that
are brought not by accident, but by thy hand for your glory
and for our good and for our learning. We pray for grace to
follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in suffering, to
suffer obediently and patiently, contrary wise to the flesh, looking
unto thee. And Lord, we pray that you'd
hasten the day that this time of suffering and sorrow and sin
would be over and bring us to be with Thee where You are. Then
there'll be no more tears, no more sorrowing, no more heartache. And Father, until that time,
for our loved ones who are in a time of suffering, we pray
for them. We pray Your grace would be sufficient,
that You'd hold them up, that You'd accomplish Be appointed
in for this trial and bring it to an end for them as soon as
it can be thy will. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we give thanks and ask these blessings.