One time when my daughter Rebecca
was in, I don't know whether she was in grade school or junior
high or high school or where it was, but someone asked her, a teacher
or somebody asked her what her father did. She said, he's a
preacher. Well, she said, what does he
do the other six days a week? Well, believe it or not, Much
of my time is spent seeking a message from the Lord
for this congregation. I want very much for you to,
all of you, me and all of you, to come to know Christ in a real
saving relationship in a vital, living, personal
union. I suppose the greatest blessing
that God can give to a people is a pastor who cares about their
relationship with Christ. I suppose the greatest judgment
that God can cause to fall upon a people is one giving them a
pastor who does not care. And this week I was reading some
of Charles Spurgeon's messages, looking for a thought, looking
for a direction, looking for a suggestion. And I read a message
taken from 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, on our light afflictions. Now let me read this text again.
And this message helped me personally so very much. It was such a blessing
to me that I sat down and wrote out an outline and sought to
apply it to our situation and to our day and to you personally,
hoping that God would make it as great a blessing to you as
it was to me. And that when I finish the message
tonight, that you'll be able to say with the Apostle Paul,
our light afflictions. our light affliction. Now let's
read the text again. Verse 16, For which cause we
faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man
is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, our
light affliction is which is but for a moment Did you saw
that some of you bristle when you read that, our light affliction? I wouldn't blame you if you did.
I wouldn't blame you if you did, at least now. Now, I'd blame
you if you did when we get through, because I'm going to point out
some things I believe God has shown me. But I wouldn't blame
you, because if you're looking at your present affliction and
at that alone, there's nothing light about it. It's very heavy. It's very heavy. And I know a
little bit about it. Not very much, but a little bit.
I know that Job said, man that is born of woman is a few days
and full of trouble. Full of trouble. And I have experienced
some trouble, some affliction, some trials. And when you're
in the midst of that trial, it appears to be anything but light. It takes up your thoughts. It
dominates your thinking, your attitude. You get in a period
of depression. It just seems like everything
at that time is closing in around you. I was very shocked when
several months ago my friend, Brother Griswold, was so depressed,
so despondent, so broken that he took his own life. That was
a great shock to me. And I've never been that depressed.
I've never been in that type of despair. I don't know whether
any of you have or not. Possibly you have. But believers
can get in that state. And believe me, I know something
about your troubles and your trials. And believe me, I pray
for you. Believe me, you're on my heart
and mind. Some of you right here in this
congregation tonight are in great physical distress. I know that
you are. Great physical distress. You
have suffered in body. You have gone to surgery. You're
suffering even now. Maybe right now that your body's
in pain and it's difficult for you to even listen to me preach.
You're here because you want to be in the presence of the
Lord and the presence of his people. You want to worship God.
It's the Lord's day. But you know pain and discomfort. You know sleepless nights. You
know the fear of surgery. You know The pain in a hospital,
you know, all these things. And here we call it light affliction. You say, you don't know what
it's all about. I know that. And I know you do. I know you
do. And my heart reaches out to you.
And I feel for you. And I pray for you. And I ache
with you. And I know some of you here have
been to the cemetery. And you've put in the grave some
of your dear, precious loved ones. And their absence from
you, their absence has brought many tears, and it brings tears
now, and brought much heartache. I know some of you grieve, and
you sorrow, not as those who have no hope, but you do sorrow.
You do miss them, you do think of them often, and it's difficult,
very difficult. It's a very hard time, and when
we say that's a light affliction, I don't blame you if you just
bristle a little bit. Wonder what the preacher what
the writer here is talking about and what the preacher is gonna
say about light affliction. I Buried the dearest one on earth
to me my husband or my wife and you call it a light affliction
That's what he says. And then some of you in this
congregation and when I was preparing this message, I was thinking
about you I was thinking about you Some of you are lonely Somebody
said to me one time, Preacher, the mornings are empty and the
nights are long. And the nights are long. I spend
so much time alone, it seems that many have forgotten or else
do not care. And some of the rest of us. Good
possibility, we're not thinking about it now, but we'll experience
this very thing sometime. Our Lord said, in this world
you shall have tribulation, the tribulation of pain and physical
distress and loneliness and heartache. And some of you have children
here that have literally broken your hearts, literally broken
your hearts. You gave your very lives and
time and labor to them. You brought them into the world.
You saw that their days were happy and their Christmases and
holidays were pleasant and they were little children. You loved
them. They loved you. They followed in your footsteps.
You labored to raise them in comfort and joy and plenty. And
when they got up grown or half grown, they turned on you and
they have literally walked on your hearts. I know that. And
I weep for you and I grieve for you. And yet, Paul said, it's
a light affliction. And I think some, as I sat there
a moment ago and looked out over here and saw some of you with
your little ones sitting beside you, you never think that little
fellow someday will cause you to lie awake all night and cry.
But he just might do it. Except for the grace of God,
he will. And you just don't know. I walked up to a preacher one
time sitting. He's a kind of a know-it-all
preacher. Walked up to him He had a 18
months old baby boys first child and he'd written a lot of books
on how to do different things And I said don't write a book
on how to raise children black kid gets 21 That's a good time
to wait to write one Well, some of you have children that literally
broken your heart some of you haven't watched you you've watched
your marriage turn into misery You started out in front of preacher
And boy, the smile on your face and the joy in your heart and
the lightness in your step, you skipped up this aisle or some
other aisle. We're going to live forever together
in happiness and joy turned into misery and pain and sorrow. A
happy home and a love partnership is now bitter hatred and hard
feelings. I know some of you have gone
through that and I know your hearts are broken. I know some
of you here I'm going to borrow you a little statement. One of
our charming ladies said to me going out this morning, I stopped
at the door and I said, you got a birthday this week. She said,
yeah. I said, you watched me go from
young to old. And you watched me go from young
to old, too. And probably see me get a lot
older, too. But some of you have gotten older.
And with age has come fears and doubts and problems and difficulties. Growing old's not easy, is it?
With age comes pain, with age comes distress, with age comes
a lot of things that aren't pleasant. And yet, right here in this text,
the Apostle Paul says, our outward man perishes. Our outward man
perishes, but he said it's a light affliction. Now why in the world,
why in the world would he call These real burdens, these real
trials, these heavy heartaches, why would he call them, and these
afflictions, light? L-I-G-H-T, light. That's what
he calls them, John. He calls them light. Even your affliction, he calls
light. He calls it light. Why did he
do that? Was it because he was hard? Somebody
said, They read in the paper that I was going to preach my
son's funeral back 14 or 15 years ago. He must be a hard man. Well, that's the reason Paul
said this. That's the reason he calls these heartaches and
afflictions light, because he was a hard man and without feeling. No, that's not so now. That's
just not so. Turn to Romans, and I'll show
you that. Romans chapter 9. Paul was not a hard man. He was
a tender man. I wish I knew his tenderness.
I wish I knew his tenderness. I wish I could say what he said
here in Romans 9, verse 1 and 2. Listen to it. Verse 1, 2,
and 3. He said, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not. My conscience also
bears me witness in the Holy Ghost. I take an oath before
God, this is true, that I have such great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart that I could wish myself, I could wish that
myself were separated from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. That's hard. Wish I was that
hard. That's hard. That's without feeling. Let me
show you another example in Philippians 2. Turn over here. Philippians
2. Philippians 2, verse 27. Listen to this. He was talking
about his friend, Paproditus, and he says in verse 27, he was
sick. Indeed, he was sick, nigh unto
death. Philippians 2, 27. But God had
mercy on him. God had mercy on him, and not
on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon
sorrow. If something had happened to
Epaphroditus, he said, my sorrow would have been so heavy. Paul
wept with those that wept and rejoiced with those. He wasn't
hard. Well, was it because that he was just a happy-go-lucky
fellow, one of these careless people that say, let's eat, drink,
and be merry, for tomorrow we die? Oh, no. No, not that at
all. Not that at all. Well, was it
because he didn't experience any great sorrow? Well, let's
see. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11. Really and truly, Paul was a
man who could spell affliction with a capital letters. Now,
this was a man who spelled affliction. He graduated in the school of
affliction. Isn't that right, Joe? He graduated. None of us have ever been afflicted
like this man was afflicted. Listen to 2 Corinthians 11, beginning
with verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I more. In labors more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prison more frequent, in death
of the Jews. Five times, five times received
I forty stripes, save one." You know what that means? That this
man was scourged five times. Scourged. That's forty stripes,
save one. That's thirty-nine lashes, five
times. That's right. I read on. Three
times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, at that time
they left him for dead. That's what it says, they left
him outside Leestra, was that it? For dead. Those fellows were
experts at stoning. And they stoned him so expertly,
they left him for dead. I think that's when he went to
the third heaven, I do not know. But three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I've been in
the deep, that is, floating around on a board or a raft. In journeyings
often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils
by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in
the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren, in weariness, in painfulness, in watchings
often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings, in cold and nakedness,
and beside those things that are without, that which cometh
upon me daily, the care of all the churches, who is weak and
I'm not weak. He said, I'm weak just like anyone
else. All right? Then what does he mean when he
says here in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, our light afflictions? Our light afflictions. Well,
I pray before I finish this message that all of us will agree with
the apostle and be able to say truly from our hearts, whatever
the affliction, whether it be distress of body or distress
of heart, whether it be loneliness, whether it be a broken heart,
whatever it may be, whatever the trial, whatever the distress
that you're experiencing right now, whatever it is, whatever
it is that causes you to be broken and bowed down, distressed and
perplexed and cast down and all of these things that you'll be
able to say, it's a light affliction. Six things. I want you to listen
to them. I'll try to be brief because
I want you to remember the outline more than the comments. Number
one, our afflictions are light compared with what we deserve.
Our afflictions are light compared with what we deserve. Turn to
Psalm 103. Now, if we can look at it this way, I don't care
what it is. I don't care what it is. Our
afflictions are light compared with what we deserve. what we
deserve. Now brethren, in Adam, we rejected
God's authority. I don't know whether you see
it as seriously as God sees it, but we shook our fist in the
face of God and said, we'll not have this man reign over us.
And when He sent His Son down here to this world, the world
knew Him not. We rejected Him, we despised
Him, we spit upon Him, we nailed Him to a cross, and we rejected
His rule and reign over us. We said, you go on back to heaven
and we'll take care of the world. That's exactly what we did. And
we have sinned against God in nature, we've sinned against
God in thought, we've sinned against God in word, we've sinned
against God in deed, we've sinned against God every breath we've
drawn. We don't love God as we ought. We don't love our neighbors
as we ought. And he says here in Psalm 103, verse 10, he has
not dealt with us after our sins. And he hasn't rewarded us according
to our iniquities. He hasn't dealt with us according
to our sins. He hasn't rewarded us according
to our iniquities. If he did, we'd be in hell with
a rich man crying for Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger
in water and cool our tongue. So whatever pain and distress
and loneliness and unhappiness we feel, we're not in hell. We're
not in hell. And as for our affliction, listen
to this, as for our affliction, it is not only light compared
with what we deserve, but it's not even worthy to be mentioned
compared to eternal woe and eternal damnation. So if I can just remember
that, that whatever comes my way, whatever affliction I bear,
whatever distress God may in his providence send upon me,
whatever trial I'm called upon to bear, it's light compared
to what I deserve. If God gave me what I deserve,
he'd say, depart from me, I never knew you. If God gave me what
I deserve, he'd say, depart, bind him hand and foot and cast
him into hell where the worm doth not and the fire is not
quenched. So these afflictions, whatever they may be, if we can
just get this, if we can just put this, we know it's so up
here, if we could just get it down here, that our afflictions,
whatever they may be, are light compared with what we deserve.
God has not dealt with us after our sins, and he hasn't rewarded
us according to our iniquities. I'll tell you something else.
Secondly, our afflictions, whatever they may be. And I'm talking
about the most afflicted person here. I'm talking about the person
in the greatest distress, in the greatest pain, in the greatest
agony, the person in this congregation with the heaviest trial and the
heaviest burden. Your affliction is light compared
with many others. That's exactly right. Turn to
Hebrews 11. Let me show you this from the Scripture. Hebrews chapter
11. It says here in Hebrews 11, compared
with many others, somebody said, turn to Hebrews 12 first. Somebody
said one time, no matter how distressed you can be, no matter
how distressed you are, you can look around you and find somebody
else in greater distress. That's exactly that truth, in
greater distress. In Hebrews 12, verse 4, he says,
you have not resisted unto blood striving against sin. Nobody
here yet has shed his blood defending the gospel. We preach the gospel,
and we've had a little bit of persecution, a little bit of
mocking, a little bit of ridicule. Somebody's made fun of you, but
you haven't resisted yet unto blood. Look back at Hebrews 11,
verse 35. Hebrews 11.35, women received
their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings. Some were put
in prison in chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn. They were literally cut asunder.
They were tempted, they were slain with a sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and
tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered
in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth."
Now, friends, we're not in prison for what we believe. We may be
lonely, but we can always pick up a phone, call a friend. We
may be lonely, but we can get in our car and come to church
and worship the Lord with the believers. We're not in prison. We're not shut off somewhere
in a dungeon with no nothing but bread and water. We're not
starving. There's nobody's children here
crying tonight, crying themselves to sleep because they're hungry.
Nobody in this congregation. We have our mental faculties.
We're not in asylums. I walked through that asylum
up in Louisburg, Pennsylvania. When I was holding a meeting
for John Thornberry one time, it's a place for children who
have no mental faculties. And I saw 17-year-old boys waiting
to be diapered. I saw children with football
helmets on. They have to watch them every
minute of the day to keep them from dashing their brains out
against the wall. I tell you, We have no pain and
no distress and no loneliness and no heartache so bad yet that
we cry for death to release us. Not yet. Not yet. So our afflictions,
when you talk about our afflictions, whatever they might be, number
one, they're not as great as we deserve. God hasn't yet afflicted
us like we ought to be by nature. where he'd put us in hell. Barnard
used to say, anything this side of hell is the mercy of God.
Thank God for his mercy. And then when we talk about our
afflictions, they're light compared to many others. I think of my
friend Tom DeJarnett, who's been up there in prison in Ohio for
about 20 years. And he said, I get so lonesome.
I get so lonesome. I'm not in prison, never have
been. Maybe someday, but not yet. And even in prison, we need
to give thanks. David said, it's good for me
that I've been afflicted, because I've learned thy statutes. And
Tom wrote me one time, and he said, just think, Brother Mahan,
just think, if I hadn't been in prison for murder, I'd have
never heard the gospel. He said, because I was sitting
in prison and heard you speak on that wall radio the gospel
of Jesus Christ, so I thanked God I was in prison or I'd never
been saved. Now thirdly, get this, our affliction
is light, whatever it is. I'm saying it doesn't matter,
and please, I understand. I started this message, y'all,
telling you I understand. I have no affliction like some
of you have endured and are enduring, and I know that. But I'm simply
saying whatever God calls upon us to bear in this life is light
compared to what our Redeemer suffered in bearing our sins
in his body on the Now you turn to Lamentations, chapter 1. Lamentations,
I'll give you a minute to find it. The Lamentations of Jeremiah,
and here he's quoting the Master. And I'm saying that whatever
God calls on us to bear is nothing compared to what our lovely Redeemer,
our Savior, the Lord Jesus, suffered to redeem us from our sins. He
suffered hell. See him yonder in that garden,
praying, crying to the Father, and the blood flowed out of his
pores. Sweat came out in drops of blood. That's how he was agonizing. I've never known that kind of
agony. My blood system has never got out of the veins and flowed
through the pores because I was in such agony. and see him as
he bore the mocking of those people, and the spittle on his
face, and nailed to a cross, and hanging there between heaven
and earth, even rejected by his own disciples, and deserted,
and betrayed, and denied, and forsaken even by the Heavenly
Father, enduring the darkness of hell, and the wrath of God
for our sins. And he cried, verse 12 of Lamentation
1, verse 12 of Lamentation 1, is it nothing to you? Is it nothing
to you, all ye that pass by?" They pass by and shoot out their
lips and laugh at him and say, you trusted God, let's see if
God will have you. Come down from the cross, we
believe on you. Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like my sorrow, if there be topside of this earth any
sorrow like my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Why
did he do it? For my sake. He was wounded for
my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities.
The chastisement of my peace was laid on him, and by his stripes
I am healed. All we like sheep had gone astray. We turned every one to his own
way, and God laid on him the iniquity of every one of us.
So whatever, if my whole family is wiped out tomorrow, if sorrow
overfloods my soul like a great flood flows over the land till
nothing is reaching out at all but my heart, I'm still not as
afflicted as Christ was, because I still have God. I still have
God. All right, fourthly. And it's
the price of my sins that he was bearing, paying. The hymn
writer asked this, he said, must I be carried to the skies on
flowery beds of ease? Is that what I'm expecting? While
others fought to win that prize and literally sailed through
bloody seas? Is that what I want? I tell you
this, fourthly, our afflictions alike, they're light. compared
with the blessings that we now enjoy. Huh? We sing a song, count your many
blessings, name them one by one. But we're too busy counting our
distresses. We don't have time for our blessings.
Sometimes just count your blessings. Right now, just start counting
your blessings. Number one, Romans 5.1. Let's look at Romans 5.1.
Our blessing. Now I know your back hurts. And
I know your heart hurts, and I know all these things. But
brethren, look here at what it says in Romans 5, verse 1. Therefore,
being justified, pardoned, forgiven, redeemed by faith, we have peace
with God. We have, right now, peace with
God. The war is over. We have peace. God's not angry anymore. We're
reconciled to God. I've got pardon, justification,
redemption, righteousness, sanctification, and peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. I got peace with God. I don't
have to run and hide. I don't have to run and hide.
Our Lord said, rejoice that your names are written in the book
of life. My sins are forgiven. I have hope of eternal life."
Think about that. Think about that. Turn to I Corinthians
chapter 4, and this is the gift of God. He says in I Corinthians
4 verse 7, who maketh thee to differ from another? Who maketh
thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now, if you received it, what
are your glories if you didn't receive? What have I received?
I received from the hand of God mercy and grace and pardon and
forgiveness of sin and hope of eternal life. Not only that, but one man said
to me not too long ago, he said, you know, he said, if God doesn't
give me another physical material blessing, I've had over 50 years
of happiness. Isn't that something to be grateful
for? I've had over 50 years of happiness. I've been born in
a country that's free. I've had a nice place to live,
a nice car to drive, and I've had health and clothes to wear
and food to eat. Do you ever, when you go in in
the morning to wash and turn on the tap, do you ever thank
God for hot water? That's right. Now, I'm serious. Just thank
God for hot water. There are places that don't have
it. You ever sit down at a meal and just thank God for a glass
of orange juice? There are places that don't have
it. We ought to have to live in a Pueblo in Mexico and eat
nothing and watch our little children's bellies swell with
malnutrition and live on tortillas and chicken bones and walk around
in the dirt. and get up in the morning and
just wonder where your next bite's coming from. That's all. Existence.
That's all they're interested in. When they get up in the morning,
and people who visited down there, Ed, you know this is so, that
when they get up in the morning, their desire is to find something
to eat. Isn't that right? Just find something to eat. Just
find something to do to get a dollar to feed their children. To put
clothes on their back. I tell you, I tell you, Our afflictions
are light compared with our blessings. And I can go on talking about
our blessings, our blessings. God has abundantly, we live like
kings today. We live like kings never lived
200 or 300 years ago. We have, sometimes I lie down
in my king-sized bed and I say to Doris, I thank God for this
bed. This is such a nice, comfortable
bed. You say, that's silly. I don't think so. I don't think
so. I don't think so. I could be
sleeping on the ground. I could be. And just to be able to see. Just to be able to hear. Just
to be able to walk. Just to be able to talk. What would it be if you couldn't
talk? If you never could express yourself. If you never could
say to somebody, I love you, or I thank you, or the sun shining
beautifully, or the rain is so great. If you just couldn't talk. We murmur and complain. God have
mercy on us. You know that. We just don't
count our blessing. Name them one by one. Instead, we look at our distresses. And I know that's human nature,
but it don't make it right, does it? I know it's human nature,
and I know somebody says, well, if you hurt like I hurt, and
I know I was one, not too many months ago, I went through some
of this. And that's the reason I'm preaching to myself, not
just to you. Another thing, turn to Romans
8. Even these afflictions of our good, even these, you know,
I'll say this, that our afflictions are light compared to our blessings,
but do you know he's going to turn our afflictions into blessings?
Did you know that? He's going to turn our afflictions
into blessings. We don't see it yet, but when
we get to the end of this trail and the end of this path, we're
going to look back and say, I'm glad that happened. I'm glad
that happened. Boy, it was hard, but I'm glad
it happened. Because he said in Romans 8, 28, I know that
all things, now that's all things, A-double-L, all things, work
together for good, the eternal good, not the temporal good,
eternal good, to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. Everything for their good. These chastenings, these trials
are brought into my life by the hand of a father who loves me.
And I know some of you are raising children and you hate to correct
them. You just hate, little fella said,
I want an ice cream cone. Here you are with $100 in your
pocket and all he wants is a 35 cent ice cream cone. But it's
not best for him. All he wants is a 15-cent Hershey
bar. That's all in the world he wants.
And you could buy a 115-cent Hershey bar, but it's not good
for him. He looks up at you and his lip
comes out and trembles. You know, why can't I just have
a little old cheap Hershey bar? You say, well, son, it'll rot
your teeth. Who cares about teeth? Andy can
fix me another set. That's their thinking. And you
have to take them aside and whip them. You have to Make them go
to bed. Don't want to go to bed. You've
got to go to bed. Go to bed or I'll spank you.
You know, and all these afflictions are the chastening of a father
who loves us. And you know, he said we endure
chastening from our parents, and our parents and we are imperfect
in our chastening. Sometimes we chasten too hard,
sometimes we chasten when we ought not to chasten, and this
sort of thing. God never makes a mistake. He's absolutely, infinitely,
unchangeably perfect in his afflicting. He will not afflict you more
than you can bear, and he will not afflict you more than you
need, and whatever affliction and chastening he brings, if
you're his child, it's for your good. You can write that down.
See, so I'm saying this, that our afflictions are light compared
with the blessings that we right now enjoy. And even these afflictions
Someday we're going to thank God for him. We ought to now.
If we had the faith of Paul, we would. I rejoice in my infirmities. Isn't that what Paul said? I
wish I could. I'd like to be able to. I wish
I had that kind of faith. We should have, and we want to. And then fifthly, our afflictions
are light compared with the blessings that we're going to enjoy. Turn,
if you will, to Romans chapter 8 again. You're there already.
Just stop and look at it. Romans chapter 8. Let's start
with verse 16. He said, The Spirit himself beareth
witness with our spirit that we're children of God. If we're
children, are you a child of God? Then you are an heir. You're
an heir of God. You're a joint heir with Jesus
Christ. If so be that you suffer with
him, you're going to be glorified together with him. And I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time, I don't care what they
are, they are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us. Brethren, I'm looking for a city
like Abraham of old. I'm looking, John, for a new
body. One day you're going to walk
all over glory. One day you're going to walk
all over glory. My blind believing friends are going to see the
face of Christ before they see anybody else. One day I'm looking
for a city. I'm looking for a new body. I'm
looking for eternal glory. I'm looking for a place of no
tears, no sorrow, no night, no heartache, and thank God, no
sin. in Revelation, turn to chapter
21 and listen to what God says about it. And I'll tell you You know, we'll come on our deathbed
someday, maybe a heart attack or whatever it might be, and
we'll lie there and we'll say goodbye to our friends and goodbye
to our wives or husbands or children and goodbye, and it'll be a sorrowful
parting and it'll be filled with doubts and so forth because we're
going into really what's unknown to us, unexperienced by us. And yet, just as soon as we close
our eyes in death, we're going to open our eyes in glory. be
present with the Lord, and we're going to look back and say, thank
God for death. That's right. To die is gain.
We're going to look back and say, thank God for that sickness
that took my life. Thank God for that breath of
death, that cold icy waters of death into which I was so fearful
to put my feet. But once I put my foot in there,
I opened my eyes on Christ. And now I have eternal youth
and eternal joy and eternal happiness and eternal glory. Wouldn't go
back for 10 billion worlds if I was master of every one of
them. 10 billion worlds. I wouldn't
go back, God made me king of the universe. I wouldn't endure
one more second of that filthy, sin-cursed, God-hating world. I wouldn't endure one second
of it. No sir, don't you think for a moment that your loved
ones are up there looking down here wishing they was with you.
They wish you was with them. Oh my, he said in Revelation
21, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, brand new. And the first
heaven and the first earth was passed away and John was exiled
out there on that isle of Patmos looking at nothing but the ocean.
He said there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they'll be his people, and
God himself shall be with them and be their God, and God himself
will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there'll be no
more death. Neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write,
these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, It's done.
I am Alpha and Omega. It's done. I'm beginning and
the end. It's done. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of water of life, the water of life Really,
he that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I'll be his God,
and he'll be my son. Let's go home. Let's go home. All these afflictions are nothing.
Paul says here, I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy, not even fit to be mentioned in the same
breath. with the glory which shall be
revealed in us." That's what I'm talking about, in us. In
us. Now, last of all, this, and I've
given you, I hope you've got those five things, and you'll
look at them. I don't believe, I don't think
the believer has to have his whole path charted, his whole
course drawn out. I believe you've just got to
give him a start. You just got to get him thinking in a direction.
You got to get him committed to a direction, and God will
be his teacher. The Holy Spirit will be his teacher. But our
afflictions are light compared with what we deserve, and you
know it. And our afflictions are light compared with a lot
of others. And our afflictions are light compared to what our
Redeemer suffered on that cross bearing our sins. I should have
been crucified, not him. And our afflictions are light
compared with the blessings I enjoy right now, spiritual, material,
and physical blessings that I enjoy right now. They're light compared
with the blessing. And then fifthly, our afflictions
are light compared with the blessings that I'm going to enjoy tomorrow
if God takes me home tonight. And it will be tomorrow, really.
It won't be long. And last of all, turn to 2 Timothy
2, and I want you to listen to Paul. Our afflictions of life,
2 Timothy 2, compared with the object that God has and we ought
to have in view. What is that object? Paul said
in 2 Timothy 2, verse 9, I suffer trouble. I suffer worry and I
suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds, even under
prison. But they can't put the Word of
God in jail. The Word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure
all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the
salvation that is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory. You know
what our ministry is here? Whatever God is pleased, and
the workings of his great providence, none of us are without the other.
None of us are without the other. We are a body. We're made up
here. Christ is the head. We're made
up of different parts. And whatever God does with his
body, it is to bring his gospel to this world and bring his elect
to his son. That's God's grand design, is
to glorify Christ. So whatever God calls upon me
to bear, whatever he calls upon me to endure, whatever he calls
upon me to share, whatever he calls upon me with which to be
afflicted, my chief aim is his glory and the salvation of his
elect. That's what Paul said, I endure
these things, whatever affliction or whatever trial or whatever
burden, that God Almighty might use me in the ministry of the
word to bring his elect to himself, to bring his elect. And I just
don't know, God, we're all in the ministry. I told my class
this morning, We're all, to some extent, witnesses. We're all,
to some extent, preachers. We're all, to some extent, those
who are in the ministry of Christ. Some have a pulpit ministry.
Some a private ministry. Some a home ministry. But our
lives touch other lives. No man's an island. No man lives
to himself. In some way, we touch other lives.
And God is molding us and shaping us and making us the way he wants
us to be. in order that when our lives
touch that other life, it'll be for His glory and the good
of that individual, and to bring that person to Christ. And whatever
the affliction is, you're doing what you're doing in the ministry
of Christ because of who you are. God uses people and personalities
and gifts that He's bestowed upon Him. And you can't sympathize
unless you've been there, you can't understand unless you've
been there, and possibly God sends a certain affliction or
trial to make you the type of person that'd have just the right
answer for that fellow to ask you someday a certain question
that you couldn't have answered had you not gone through what
you went through. He has to subdue us. He has to bring us into subjection. He has to shut our mouths. He
has to, you see, tribulation work is patience. The wrath of
man does not glorify God. And so whatever he does to us
to whittle us down and bring us down and make us what we are
if we're his children. I'm talking about his children
now, not the sons of Adam. He does all of this so that we'll
have the right word to say when it's time to say it. That we'll
have the right influence to exert when it's time to exert it. God
may just put you back in the closet till he gets ready to
use you one time.